Microsoft is not a company to do things by halves, and in one of their more recent attempts to take over the world, they have announced Echoes. Echoes is a communication platform that Microsoft believes will eventually combine every form of communication into a single uber MSN Messenger. This, in turn, will negate the need for phone numbers and everything will be perfectly synced.
Microsoft is constantly trying to find ways to force people to inadvertently use their platform. With every new release of the Windows operating system, there are new calls to develop a more open platform. If Microsoft were ever to take over the world then you can bet your house on their being an underground people’s liberation army fronted by the Open Source community. There is also likely to be another guerilla group run by Steve Jobs.
The theory of a single, unified communication system is a great thing, but the practicalities are unnerving. If you’ve ever tried, unsuccessfully, to sync files or contacts from one machine to another imagine the fun you’re going to have on a regular basis when you want to update your uMSN Messenger and your mobile devices.
