] Mark Broatch, Computerworld New Zealand ] ] Monday, March 31, 2003 ] ] If you haven't noticed, Weblogs are escaping the world of ] the opinionated scribbler in the wilderness and being ] taken up as a means to extend corporate intelligence ] gathering. ] ] Blogs, as they're known, are no longer just an online ] epistolary sideline. They're joining traditional project ] collaboration tools like document management, ] whiteboards, e-mail, and other online meeting spaces, ] meaning team members within companies and outside can ] contribute regardless of location. Weblog software ] aggregates unstructured information in a Web-publishable ] form, by time and topic, and XML can be used to embed ] links from a variety of information sources. ] ] IM's Example ] ] ] Advertisement ] ] ] ] ] ] While most private bloggers use free or very cheap ] software to produce their Weblogs (like Blogging.com, run ] by the Google-owned Pyra Labs, motto: "Push-button ] publishing for the people"), software vendors sniff a new ] market in the making. Techdirt, Traction Software, and ] others--including the usual software heavyweights--are ] building in things like enterprise-level security and ] management, as they are to another technology that ] started off life as a cult tool, instant messaging. |