One thing I’d point out, IBM will always be a player in the market regardless of their features/functionality, by the sheer nature of their Lotus following/entrenchment, but in this space, I think most of the innovation is going to come from the industry at large, rather than any one single vendor. Meaning that vendors of software in this space, need to be agile to quickly adopt/develop features, standards, and trends and roll them out to the masses. I’m not encouraging the blind bundling of any feature, but it doesn’t take much common sense to see when a paradigm just makes sense, and when you should adopt it. As I digress, between Connections/QuickR/Notes/Sametime, as IBM tries to merge and make these platforms seamless (moreso than they already are)…we are going to see continued oscillation between harmony and fracture as they roll out their various software components on different release cycles. In time, I agree that they will eventually all come together, and that is why I agree that they are a viable long-term bet. As I’ve stated before, I am a very pro-Jive platform guy. And the way I see it, is that a more nimble software solution that plays a role of a software integrator, becomes a very powerful offering being able to use the features of today…today….and integrating out to the Enterprise to systems to share that information.

That’s what I love about this Social Software space. The features just make sense for harvesting, capturing, and distributing knowledge and lowering the barriers to informed decision making. I agree with Sarah’s comments above as well, that Facebook + Twitter in the Enterprise will not generate ROI in and of itself, but thankfully, that’s not what Social Software is about.

Wish I had more time to keep talking, but cant for the moment. =)

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