Patent ID: 7363342

Claim:
A method for providing access over a network to data and services available within a collaborative computer system, the collaborative system comprising a plurality of collaborative clients, the method comprising: a) maintaining, by each collaborative client, data based on user interactions with the collaborative system, the maintaining comprising, for each collaborative client, having a local copy of collaborative data and forwarding data change requests to other collaborative clients and using data change requests in modifying the local copy; b) providing access to the collaborative data in response to a request message from a non-native client, the non-native client accessing the collaborative data other than through the collaborative system, the request message containing information identifying the non-native client; c) receiving the request message in a server connected to the non-native client, extracting from the request message the information identifying the non-native client and modifying the request message by replacing the information identifying the non-collaborative client with information identifying a queue in the server, the queue being associated with the non-native client and the server; d) sending the modified request message to a collaborative client of the plurality of collaborative clients via the network, wherein the request message specifies collaborative data to update or return, and the collaborative client provides a response message based on the request message; e) sending the response message to the server queue identified in the modified request message, and f) using the information in the server identifying the non-native client to forward the response message from the server queue to the non-collaborative client.