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Instant messaging (IM) (AIM is one of the most popular) is making its way from students to parents
to the workplace. When a worker sends an e-mail, it‟s hard to know whether the recipient is at his or
her desk. A read receipt can be added to the e-mail, but many users decline to send such receipts.
Instant messaging allows users to see who in their network of IM “buddies” are online, or if not, when
they might be back. A user can type a short message and send it immediately. The person online tends
to respond immediately. For those who are “away” or not even logged on, the message will be
delivered when they return or log on. IM tends to be more for personal than for business use, but that
is beginning to change. Organizations are hosting their own internal instant messaging services so
workers can communicate in real time with each other but aren‟t able to IM outside of the internal
network.
Calendar
The feature of PDAs that fueled their success in the late 1990s was the way they allowed the user to
maintain a calendar and contact list on the device. The device could then be synchronized to the
owner‟s desktop using software provided by the PDA manufacturer. The power of that capability has
been expanded to a corporate calendar, open calendars to facilitate setting meeting times, and
integrating the calendar with e-mail. The software can issue alerts before scheduled meetings.
Calendar software can also maintain tasks input by the owner of the calendar.
Exhibit 19.10 Check writing screen in Quicken 2000 from Intuit, Inc.