Alexis Tannenbaum
Recognizing that few people in today's workplace work alone, software developers are adding group-collaboration features to PIMs (personal information managers.
Even companies that have released PIMs for the first-time PC user say their strategic goal is to enable users on a network to share information. Officials at Polaris Software ((619) 592-7400), developer of PackRat and Advantage, a new PIM for novice users, say both will be network capable within the next 12 to 18 months.
Lotus Organizer 1.1 for Windows from Lotus ((617) 577-8500) supports information interchange between PIM schedulers via Lotus's cc:Mail. Lotus is also coming out with other platform versions of Organizer. The first of these, Organizer 1.1 for the Mac, is already shipping. Organizer 1.1 for
MS-DOS is slated for release in July. Both versions support group scheduling, calendar, and to-do functions, but lack personal address books. Jensen-Jones (Red Bank, NJ) has been shipping its groupware-enabled PIM, Commence 2.0, since June of 1993.
Arabesque Software ((206) 869-9600) officials say Ecco Professional 2.0 and Ecco Simplicity support the sharing of schedules, phone books, and outlines over MAPI-, VIM-, or MHS-based E-mail systems.
Barbara Baird, director of product marketing for Lotus Organizer, says that modern PIMs must address the fact that one person's schedule can impact other people in the office. "You need the 'PIMness' for yourself," she says. "But a lot of your workday involves a lot of other people."
Illustration: Lotus is planning on releasing versions of its Organizer information manager, which features a notebook-metaphor front end in Windows, on other platforms.
PIMs Are Not So Personal Anymore
