Interesting, Microsoft bought Parlano, a company that makes a very nice enterprise persistant group chat product, with the intent being to roll some of the technology into Office Communications Server.
We've been working on a ProjectForum-ish spin on this type of technology (Parlano was one example of this, 37Signals' Campfire is another), so I'm glad to see more evidence that this is a definite area of interest in the industry. Huge players leave behind great niches...
