Presence and IntComm WG

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: ext Steve Blair 
> [mailto:]
>  
> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 5:56 PM
> To: 
> 
> Cc: wg-pic
> Subject: Re: [wg-pic] PIC WG Feature Requests #2
> 
> 
> Candace:
> 
>   I agree with most of what is on this list. The one item I 
> question is
> #13 Message silo storage. Storing instant messages for later 
> retrieval seems contrary to the concept of instant messaging 
> (at least to me).
> How do other people feel about this?
> 

What I've found is that people like to use one interface for messaging,
even if there are multiple modes for delivery (synchronous vs
asynchronous).  The IRC service that we use for handhelds.org has an
explicit message silo so that messages can be queued for someone who is
offline.  Messages to a user are queued by instructing a 'bot' to send a
message to the user.  The bot watches for the user to come online,
messages the user, and then user has a dialog with the bot to read and
even reply to messages.

Perhaps the current message silo subverts the notion of instant
messaging but it does provide a useful service.  Maybe we should broaden
the description of the feature.

As a related datapoint, I'm very annoyed that on my phone I have to
decide before I start composing a message whether it is delivered by
SMS, MMS, or email.

Jamey