Microsoft is looking to extend the reach of its Office Communicator 2005 instant-messaging (IM) client via a new version that will be completely Web-based. Microsoft is set to kick off on July 15 a first private beta release of what it"s currently calling the "Office Communicator Web Access" client, company officials said on Tuesday. The company expects to ship the final version before the end of calendar 2005, officials said.
Communicator Web Access is similar to Microsoft"s Outlook Web Access product, said Anoop Gupta, the corporate vice president in charge of Microsoft"s Real-Time Collaboration Business Unit. "People need reach and access from a lot of places," Gupta told Microsoft Watch, in explaining why Microsoft decided to do a Web-based version of Communicator Office Communicator 2005, code-named "Istanbul," is Microsoft"s integrated client for IM, voice, video, telephony and Web conferencing.