InfoWorld: New IM service for business users launched
Between the time I started writing this and now several things happened. First, Michael Sampson beat me to the punch. Second I look a couple of minutes and went to the website to take a look for myself.
The Five Across website doesn’t have too many details, but the application does look impressive. The InfoWorld article doesn’t do it justice. I don’t think they even mention the (important) fact that there is an OS X version of the application! The PC World article is more flattering and does mention that there is a Mac version. Steve Boyd thinks the application falls short for him.
Myself I’ll be downloading it in a couple of minutes. In my mind it has several things going for it:
- Windows and Mac support
- Pro version is the right price. At $29 a larger company can afford to cover the cost for a consultant or two without breaking a sweat. A consultant, like me, wouldn’t need to much of an excuse to buy it (assuming I had clients using it or I saw enough value to recommend it). This is a great price point.
- The tools like file managing with version control look good from the surface
- It looks like it’s getting some good buzz already
One important part I haven’t seen and that I think is extremely important these days is encryption. It it doesn’t have encryption, it should be added. It should be there from the start, free or Pro. There is too much garbage around not to take this important step.
To be fair, this is a v1 product. User feedback will be critical for them to succeed.
I would like to test this for real, so if you’re a reader and have my real e-mail address. I should have the application downloaded and installed soon.
InfoWorld: New IM service for business users launched: August 09, 2004: By : APPLICATIONS
Five Across Inc. will launch an instant messaging (IM) product for business users on Monday that the startup vendor hopes will be a workplace alternative to free, consumer-oriented, public IM services and pricy enterprise-class IM systems.