Zimbra plays matchmaker for Comcast and Yahoo!

By Maurene Caplan Grey | September 25, 2007, 7:18am PDT

Earlier this year, Comcast announced their planned launch of SmartZone Communications Center — targeted for late 2007. Jay Fortner in Read/Write Web offers an excellent description of Smart Zone, components of which will result from Comcast’s technology partnerships with Zimbra (messaging) and Plaxo (contact management).
SmartZone Home Page

Last week, Yahoo! announced that they are acquiring Zimbra. [...]

Symphony plays on in Notes 8

By Maurene Caplan Grey | September 19, 2007, 12:53pm PDT

It’s the morning after IBM’s Lotus Collaboration Summit, at which IBM announced that the reincarnation of an ODF-compliant Lotus Symphony is integrated into Notes 8 — as well as being offered as a free download. The media coverage conveys that IBM is trying to win over the Microsoft Office market, and the half-page IBM [...]

Microsoft and Open Source: Kissing cousins

By Maurene Caplan Grey | August 20, 2007, 1:28pm PDT

In early 1994, the World Wide Web opened the gates of Internet travel for the average person — the same year that the Netscape Navigator browser was released. By mid-1994, millions of PC users were riding the “information highway.”
On December 7, 1995, Microsoft announced its plans for the quantum leap to Internet time.
“The thing that really motivates us [...]

BlogHer07: A 2.0 human community

By Maurene Caplan Grey | August 10, 2007, 8:27am PDT

About a year ago, I was a neophyte blogger. My first few posts were force-fed into my blog. They were a “should” chore — I should be blogging. I approached “the blog” as unfamiliar technology. I didn’t yet realize that blog posts are born from passion, and that ”should blog” is an oxymoron.
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In late July, I attended BlogHer07. [...]

Xandros and Scalix: A marriage of convenience

By Maurene Caplan Grey | August 2, 2007, 1:08pm PDT

Today’s trivia-by-association question: I say, “Linux.” Quick, what’s your first thought? …  
Xandros is gambling that their transition from a desktop Linux player to an end-to-end Linux platform player will drive Xandros mindshare, so as to position them with the Linux “big boys.” Given the voluminous number of Linux distributions, Xandros’s ambition is lofty — but not insurmountable.
In 2004, Xandros stepped into the server [...]

Can Postini legitimize Google's enterprise ambitions?

By Maurene Caplan Grey | July 9, 2007, 3:51pm PDT

Google has been thundering into the SaaS space with their broadening ”application-of-the-day” suite. Google has portrayed themselves as a productivity suite contender in the enterprise space, which supports today’s announced plan to acquire messaging security provider Postini. However, they face a Mount Everest-like uphill climb. Google needs to shed their pure-play consumer image, in favor of a provider for consumer and enterprise services. As my ZDNet colleagues, [...]

Confessions of a social community subscribe-aholic

By Maurene Caplan Grey | July 5, 2007, 1:50pm PDT

I have subscribed to more social communities than I can keep up with … and yet I keep clicking subscribe links. Some I bookmark, and some I don’t. Most are clutter in my cyber-closet. My name is Maurene, and I’m a social community subscribe-aholic.  
In my reality, each one is important — with bits and bytes of information to be discovered. I’ve [...]

Web 2.0: Where "low-fi is the next high-fi"

By Maurene Caplan Grey | June 27, 2007, 7:57am PDT

My audience [will] live a happier, easier life here on the web!
Well, you’re gonna be a rock star with this!
Simple, entertaining, funny, and informative!
… and my personal favorite
You made it so simple, even my parents could understand it.
These are a sampling of comments received by the folk at CommonCraft.
CommonCraft has mastered the art of simplifying [...]

Reality television leads to "unreality" communications

By Maurene Caplan Grey | June 25, 2007, 10:54am PDT

I’m not a fan of today’s reality television.  I don’t really want to know that Sharon Osbourne likes to flash her son’s friends. However, there is a certain amount of voyeurism in all of us, which today’s reality television exploits and numbs us to the reality of unreality.
We now have the e-communicative tools to expose much of our [...]

Good email can take the ISP fast lane

By Maurene Caplan Grey | June 22, 2007, 10:45am PDT

Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner and Verizon have joined Yahoo and AOL in adopting the CertifiedMail reputation program from Goodmail Systems.
Courtesy of Slashdot’s “something-to-think-about dept,” CmdrTaco asks What Happens If You Don’t Pay for Goodmail?  (Read CmdrTaco’s blog for an objective analysis of both sides of the debate.) 
[Here's] the Catch 22: If an ISP gives the same [...]