(2002-08-23) e

Ray Ozzie on EMail vs other Collaboration Ware spaces (in the context of being new to WebLog writing). Not, of course, that eMail is going away; of course it's not. Email is the place where most conversations begin, and will remain forever a critical business tool - one that is being enhanced in its own fascinating directions - particularly with regard to acting as a filtering proxy that dispatches notifications to your wireless mobile devices, wherever you happen to be. But, for a variety of reasons, more and more of us will seek additional and alternative methods of connecting with one another - places that are more natural, more private, more productive, more effective - me-to-you, mind-to-mind, heart-to-heart. Places that will enable us to "have a life" offline, while simultaneously juggling a dramatic number of online connections that are meaningful and valuable to us. Places designed to yield a higher "return on connection" for each of us - strengthening the connections between us and those with whom we interact, online. Places designed to yield a higher "return on connection" through lowered transaction costs for our organizations. who need us to work online together effectively.