While AOL and MSN joust for control of today's instant messaging systems, engineers and developers are designing the messaging features of the future. The result is expected to be a network that is constantly aware of users' status and their presence on line. Tomorrow is near Some information products suggest this instant messaging future. PeopleLink of Santa Monica, Calif., has created enhanced instant messaging software that lets strangers with similar interests communicate individually or in groups, instantly or through e-mail. We've taken the concept that it's not just your friends or colleagues you want to know are on line.
Users can see on their phone or on the Web whether their contacts are available.
What we're trying to achieve here is extending instant messaging to a device that is really an important part of people's mobile culture. In another real-world example, drug enforcement investigators in Mississippi are testing Ecutel's system to share data such as maps and motor vehicle, land and police records among officers in the field and databases in neighboring states. Users can access databases remotely, as if they were on a local network. Instant messages can be sent between officers, independent of their connection, and they can decide whether to accept them. We can be at home creating our own VH1 pop-up videos while we're talking to friends.