 June 2000
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iBiz software recommendations. Cool stuff to make working the Web easier and more productive.
http://www.webbe.com/ The web is a very big place, and as we all know, hardly an info highway, more an amorphous mass of information with so many hundreds of millions of web pages that even the best search engines are lucky to have 20% of them catalogued. Thus the need for magazines like iBiz, that can help you navigate the backwaters seeking out the best without muddling through the rest. And thus the need for kick-butt, well thought out utilities like WEBBE, the brainchild of 27 year old Mark Chambers, a self taught software developer with one of the best programs since Netscape to help one get around the Net with the ease of using a Television remote controller. In fact WEBBE's graphical user interface (GUI) is modeled after the TV remote, only with 'buttons' designed with the web in mind. With WEBBE you can send files of any size with drag and drop ease to anyone on your WEBBE buddy list. You can also send the electronic equivalent of a "sticky-note" circumventing email and even encrypt the message if you really want an extra bit of privacy/security. You can use this handy feature to send notes to yourself as well, little reminders of appointments or upcoming birthdays so they don't get overlooked or forgotten in the hustle and bustle of life online. The impressive list of features just goes on and on, send e-links to friends and business partners with point and click ease. Use the chat programs for real time conversations with your contacts around the globe and skip the long distance bills, or even invite up to 25 other conference's to join you in a private chat room to get in on the conversation. WEBBE can be configured to check all of your email accounts, everyone has at least 2 these days, and send you alerts when you have messages in any one of them; have WEBBE scan the news services using keywords you have provided and it will bring the items you seek to you without you having to go out looking for them. Of course it has an address book for all your contacts, a message archiving system, a 'who's online' alert, and enables the user to lurk invisibly if you "vant to be (left) alone". How much does a super dynamite extra deluxe utility with a GUI even a 5 year old could use cost you ask? Hey, it's the Internet man, it's FREE!!! Webbe works with all browsers, Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows NT and Windows 2000. There is a Mac version in the works. Download size is 3.6 MB and you'll need 5 MB of free hard disk space. So Download This!! and surf with speed, intelligence and convenience. Highly recommended. WEBBE Messenger V.2.1 to Launch in June iBiz Interviews Manish Dave, VP of Sales from WEBBE, Inc. by Charles Anthony 
While I was preparing the Download this feature on WEBBE for June, I sent their corporate office a request for some print quality graphics and any information they could give me on the corporate/business version of their product, as the website seemed a little vague on that subject. That afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from Manish Dave, the Vice President of Sales/Marketing for "WEBBE" and WEBBE Messenger" from the New York office. He called to chat me up and fill me in on the upcoming launch of "WEBBE Messenger" version 2.1 slated for release sometime in June; just in time for this printing. Not one to want to miss out on an opportunity I asked and he consented to a telephone interview and here is what iBiz learned about this most exciting tool for working the web.
When these guys toss around the word ROBUST as so many do these days, they mean it, this program seems to have covered all the bases covered by other IM programs and then up the ante by raising the bar with ease of use and functionality. WEBBE Messenger - Designed with Business in Mind Manish began, "We think of WEBBE as more than just an Instant Messaging tool, we think of it as more of a Personalized Internet Browser and approach it as if building a new sort of platform." "We are looking to grow our corporate client base with Fortune 1000 companies, and what we saw was a definite need for business applications; looking at AOL or ICQ, the great success that they've enjoyed is really from a focus on chat and end users, but there were no clear leaders when it came to addressing the needs of corporations. WEBBE Messenger was designed specifically for the needs of the corporations, completely designed with a business focus. In WEBBE Messenger we have a much greater focus on the security features, the communication features and the collaboration features." Streamlined for the Corporate/LAN Environment To that end, WEBBE Messenger has done away with the Portal feature, which was perceived as a possible distraction in the business environment. "We wanted to give companies tools that would help them increase productivity, think faster, type faster, without some of the potential distractions or temptations that the Internet holds, so we have stripped out a lot of those kinds of features you see in the Internet (free) version.'" "Stripping out things like the 'Portal' feature and even the 'News' feature, gave us a streamlined corporate tool that wouldn't compromise band width in the corporate, LAN environment", Dave continued. "The things we really focused on was Integration, so WEBBE Messenger really integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange 5.5, and as Excahnge 2000 rolls out it will do as well.. it integrates seamlessly with Lotus Notes, it is basically platform neutral, so if you are MS shop or a Lotus shop WEBBE will work equally as well." Ease of Use A 'big deal' when creating a corporate tool, a piece of software that will be used by employees at all levels of the company, with wide variance in technological skills was ease of use. "Where the Internet (free end-user) client was easy to use, we set out to make "WEBBE Messenger" even easier", Manish Dave continued, "We've all seen that (now famous) commercial where the 'mail boy', who is busy faxing a copy of his face at the time, is called in to the CEOs office to help him with an online stock purchase; well WEBBE Messenger was designed for 'ease of use' for both of those people working at different levels in the corporate environment." Security While a lot of this might sound as if they have taken the fun out of the corporate version Dave reminds us anyone can get the Internet version with all the features for free off the web to use at home and chat with friends and have great fun all on their own time, but in the office they probably don't want you logged on as "Big Daddy" when you are potentially going to interact with clients and co-workers. "One of our clients is Merril Lynch, and for them as for many other companies security is a major issue. So unlike public tools, they don't want users signing on with weird nick names or hiding behind anonyminity. We have intentionally limited the users ability to customize in the corporate version, making anonyminity for instance virtually impossible. Everything a client does on "WEBBE Messenger" is basically tied into his company, NT user name, tied into the user's company email address.", Dave explained. "Another of our clients is the 'Navy Seals', and security issues here are of the utmost in importance. It was with their needs in mind that we added the encryption element on the server side, to make messaging that was even more secure", said Dave. WEBBE Messenger to the Rescue The security value of adding an Instant Messaging client to the tool base for workers within the company was dramatically underscored recently with the mass breakout of the "I LOVE YOU" virus. "I can tell you Charles, that week, when the I LOVE YOU virus hit and just stopped email systems, our WEBBE Messenger clients were still able to communicate with each other, within the company and out over the Web, because WEBBE wasn't tied to an email server", you could hear Dave beaming, like a proud parent over the phone, "So here we really saw an instance where Instant Messaging more than justified itself, a great testimony to its robustness and utility in the corporate environment with real-time messaging coming to the rescue." Affordability/Price and Co-Branding Possibilities I mentioned to Manish that, try as I might, I couldn't find any price info for the corporate "WEBBE Messenger" version. "That's because it really depends on the number of users and which of the two commercial clients they choose. Right now we are finishing up the co-branding version of the commercial product that would enable us to customize the GUI to suit the branding needs of any particular company, from say "Joe's Cola' to the biggest of the "little" ISPs serving a particular area. Under the hood it's a WEBBE Mesenger but the interface will have a lot of branding flexibility. But you can tell your readers that depending on the version and the number of user's WEBBE Messenger will cost anywhere from $20.00 to $60.00 per seat." Well Blow Me Away Why Don't Ya!!! How About a Truly World-Wide-Web? During the course of the interview, Manish Dave's pride and enthusiasm for his companies product show through. Without coming off like a swell headed young turk, he conveyed a real sense of joy, this guy obviously believes in his product and is having a great time working in an exciting field for a start-up with fantastic potential. I was a convert before talking to him but his enthusiasm was contagious and I felt buoyed; justified in my feelings for having talked with him. But I was not prepared for the little bomb he dropped on me, as we were wrapping up the interview, that re-injected meaning, reviving in the truest sense, the hackneyed, over used, well worn phrase of being "blown away." Having covered most of the bases for the purposes of the article/interview and having developed an easy rapor in the process we both hung on and chatted about Web commerce in general, different trends in commercialization, blah blah blah just enjoying ourselves having found a kindred soul equally enamored of the Internet and the profusion of digital gadgets emerging, when Manish mentions in a diffident, off hand sort of way, "We do have one killer app we are working on, a killer feature that we should be releasing soon." He said it so casually without much, if any emphasis on "killer" so it sounded like he may have just remembered some mundane business app he forgot to mention earlier and was trying to make an interesting segue back into 'Interview' mode…when he dropped this on me, "Not too long after this article runs, we will be introducing a new feature in both of our WEBBE products that is going to revolutionize the way people communicate across the world, with the ability for instant, real-time language translation beginning with 5 base languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish/Portuguese." I was floored, amazed, I mean 'Holy Issacc Asimov"!!!, how utterly Star-Trek, how so sophisticatedly sci-fi! Instant, real-time, language translation in 5 languages with more languages soon to follow, "We hope to be doing it with Chinese, Japanese and Korean within 4 to 6 months," enthused Dave, having picked up on the increased awe I now felt for his companies humble software product. And awe it was. I felt like I was just startled out of my sleep to be a witness to the sun rising on a new dawn, "Now the World Wide Web really WILL become a World Wide Web!" he went on. WEBBE's instant language translation, (Dave says that is has proven to be 85% accurate in real-time tests) plus the Internet, equals a border crashing, language-barrier busting, cross culturally unifying, global digital, communications Network the likes of which we've never ever seen before seen before this side of a sci-fi novel or movie. This has to be the ultimate icing on the cake for the globalization of the Internet, the beginning of the end of all talk about any one language or culture dominating the Web. The ultimate tool for both commerce and Conversation over the Network on a global scale. And now I can tell that gorgeous chat friend from Germany, my real name, what I do for a living, my wide variety of tastes in music and food, and so much more without struggling in vain for hours to barely get a sentence understood, Although I did kind'a like it when all she could say was "I like you a lot 'Big Daddy!!', the increased potential for ever more meaningful communication now is beyond even my imagination. [Stay tuned to iBiz for a full tilt, 'kick the tires' review of the new WEBBE and WEBBE Messenger clients including an in-depth look at the translation feature when they are released later this summer-CA] iBiz |
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