RealTechNews.com - Independent Tech

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Microsoft's "Istanbul"?
What's in a Name Dept: Some interesting news today from Microsoft and a new client application code-named "Istandbul." Think of it as IM on steroids, but according to the Associated Press: "Istanbul will feature so-called 'rich presence' technology, using 'buddy' lists to indicate which colleagues or friends are available for a range of communications rather than merely through the IM service itself. Then, users could choose to immediately respond to an e-mail via instant messenger or another method such as voice-over-Internet within the same application, rather than switching back and forth between applications. The product also includes capabilities to initiate impromptu, real-time, remote "meetings" by bringing together groups of people without having to arrange Web or phone conferences with dial-in numbers and passwords."

But here is our question. What is with the code name? First, nothing against Istanbul which is supposed to be an amazing city, but one, I immediately think of the still-chilling movie Midnight Express, then the recent terrorist bombings, and of course, the way "Istanbul" sounds a little too close to the phrase "Instant Bull." Or is just me? (Oh no, you are not alone on that one --Bill) Expect to see it in early 05. More to follow....
# Permalink Posted at 2:36 PM 16 comments Email this Link

Comments on this Item:

Actually, when I see the word 'Istanbul' I immediately start humming the song from They Might Be Giants:

"Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night"

Ah, now that's music.

# posted by Chris 3:54 PM

And that makes "Istanbul" née "Constantinople" a "Byzantine" plot to conquer the world.

# posted by Anonymous 6:23 PM

So it's kind of like Haystack? http://haystack.lcs.mit.edu/index.html

# posted by Anonymous 9:02 PM

Lotus has had this for a couple of years now.

# posted by Anonymous 5:25 AM

So... it's like iChatAV but without the AOL compatibility.

# posted by Paul 5:38 AM

Alice, Bill or any one of the minions, who has written this piece of artwork, referencing to a ages old Midnight Express movie, which was obviously made as an anti-propaganda to Turkiye, tells me where your mindset is. As a Turkish-American citizen, reading your comments until now, I must say, this is the lowest that you sunk.please check your facts, before correlating a beautiful city like Istanbul to an Armenian propaganda movie in late 70s, does not make much sense at all, other than showing how closed minded you are.
Cheers.

# posted by Anonymous 9:06 AM

It's nobody's business but the Turks'!

# posted by Tim 10:51 AM

I am sorry for seeming anti-Turkish because that was not my point. I was saying what the name "Istanbul" conjurs up in my mind when I hear it, and for whatever reason, I always remember that movie, Midnight Express. My company actually had a huge event planned in Istanbul and then had to cancel after the terrorist activity, and I felt really disappointed because I always wanted to go.

# posted by Alice 10:56 AM

When you cancel trips because of terrorist activity, "The terrorists win". Or something. God, I love Dubya.

# posted by Terry 12:30 PM

Leave it to me to be politially incorrect, but oh ye anonymous Turkish sufferer of indignities, cut the crap. Midnight Express has as many interpretations as there are about the "yes it was genocide, no it wasn't genocide" discussions of the mass murder of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I by the Turks. I would point you to:
http://www.prisonflicks.com/reviews.php?filmID=61
as an example.

So, before you tell us all how sadly disappointed you are, think first that the problem might be within yourself and correct it there. You have no idea where our mindsets are but we all do know where your is.

Alice, you wrote nothing that deserved an apology. You shouldn't allow yourself to be intimidated by someone else's foolishness.

# posted by Bill 5:15 PM

Oh my.

Actually, I broke my own rule. Our mission is very simple: aliceandbill.com is about *independent tech* - it is *not* about terrorism, polictics, people we like, vacations we took, our pets, etc. There are plently of places for all that online amd it only dilutes our mission and focus. If there ain't a tech angle, then we don't cover it. Pretty simple. Exacmple: I met Prince Charles and could only cover that because we talked the whole time about computer viruses. (I'm SUCH a geek) That's tech. Meeting P.C. Would not qualify on its own no matter how excited i was to brag about it if there was no tech angle.

So you are right Bill - let's get back to the original premise which is Microsoft is full of "Instant Bull" claiming an early 05 launch for this "Istanbul" product. The end.

# posted by Alice 5:34 PM

Hey *actuate*, if he had a personal website, would it be dubyadubyadubya.dubya.com(manderinchief)...?

# posted by Bill 7:12 PM

Oh, and Alice, this is the second time someone's mentioned the topic. Are you hiding minions on me? ;-)

# posted by Bill 7:15 PM

Whatever you guys say about Istanbul will make no difference and the fantastic product will come out with the fantastic name. Ya the name I think is fantastic.. Those who do not want to accept it, or see an excuse to Turks too much, I m telling u..
The Turks are now everywhere.. People know about Turks more than before and those people will no more have mislead thoughts about Turks by seeing that kinda movies, like Midnight Express or by hearing from people like you. And please face the fact; Turkiye is a beautiful country with beautiful people.. This is not what I say, but what I hear from my friends..

# posted by Anonymous 7:24 PM

OK gang, enough on the Turks. Someone in another thread called this product category BLOATWARE and described what happened to ICQ and other IM clients when everything but the kitchen sink was bolted on. I totally agree.

Anyone feel like this is something you would actually buy???

# posted by Alice 8:19 PM

I will buy every microsoft product!
I'm kidding! I will PIRATE every microsoft product, like I already do!
I AM KIDDING! Besides, the piracy crap goes in another thread.

I find some aspects of this to be compelling. Sort of like what Netmeeting tried to do - bring whiteboard, voice, IM, etc together for business purposes. Clustering some of this functionality into one products makes good sense in Certain Applications. Trying to throw EVERYthing together in one Universal product makes you the jack of all *crash* trades and the master of None.

There is merit to both arguments. It's also worthy to note that nobody I know ever uses netmeeting ever. Ever.

I think eliminating the complication of connecting multple users together (What's your IP? I can't connect, check your firewall. Wait, maybe it's my firewall. What port was that, again?) would be a huge step in the right direction. But that would probably open up a plethora of security concerns? I'm certainly no master in this respect. Some of the ideas are good, and I'm sure another company will do them better. Maybe in Linux. Maybe for OS X. Maybe, just maybe ... in Windows. Maybe something like this already exists, but to try and find a product like that would be like looking for a haystack in a ... um .. oh. I should Czech that out.

# posted by Terry 1:02 PM

Post a Comment