By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

October 20, 2004

A computer on every desk and in every ... phone?

That rewrite of the old Microsoft Corp. motto might not fit precisely, but the Redmond company yesterday showed its ever-expanding ambitions with new software that connects the desktop computer to the traditional telephone next to it.

The product is an on-screen communications hub for office workers. It creates a central place for instant messaging, file transfers, audio and video communication, computer-based conferencing and advanced "presence" technology that indicates whether others on the system are available to meet or talk....
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Competitors will include such companies as Nortel and Avaya that sell Internet Protocol "soft phones" for managing calls on a computer. Melanie Turek, principal research analyst for Nemertes Research, wrote in a report yesterday that such products are "significantly more advanced" than Microsoft's Istanbul.

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