ID405 - Sametime Advanced

I'll say upfront, I was rather disappointed with this session.

Sametime Advanced seems to have some nice features is it, but I'm not really sure how much they would get used at Mars.

In addition to multi-user chats, there is a more formal "chat room" feature available, with document sharing included. The can also be accessed from a browser interface too. It's nice, but SameTime meetings gives you the same functionality.

Broadcasts are another feature - you can broadcast a message out to a group, and those that respond are joined into an n-way chat. I can see maybe ART or teams like that using this, for getting help on a problem.

Instant poll works similar to Broadcasts, but with a polling/survey message. Meh.

Skilltap is virtually identical to broadcasts, but specifically pointed to asking questions that require specialist answers. At the end of the chat, the questioner has the option of reviewing the answers and adding them to an FAQ. It's an interesting way of working, sure, but surely the last thing we need is yet another silo of information locked away somewhere else?

And then there's desktop sharing, which gives... well, desktop sharing.

The other major functional benefit, which is the main value proposition for upgrade, would be the ability to customise the look and feel and location of the Sametime notification baloons.

So, all in all, some nice stuff, but anything we'd actually use we already have perfectly good ways of doing.