The AOL Running Man is making its presence known to users of Microsofts Outlook. America Online will soon publicly unveil a beta that deepens AOLs commitment to provide customers with open e-mail access.
Called AIM Sync by Intellisync, the service integrates AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) presence awareness into Outlook contacts. Reciprocally, the software will provide users with the option of adding Outlook contacts to their Buddy List.
AOL tells BetaNews it is working out the final technical details and expects to launch the beta in the coming days.
Like Microsofts Windows Messenger before it, AIM Sync comes out like gang-busters from the world of real time communications into the universe of e-mail clients, allowing users of Outlook 2002 and 2003 to see when friends, family or coworkers are online. Contacts that run AIM Sync are added to the Recent Buddies list in AIM 5.9 (or above) at a limit of 210 Screen Names minus the Buddy List. Users can also manually add contacts to their Buddy List by Screen Name or mobile telephone number.
The Running Man is exposed in the address fields of e-mails as well as the contacts view in Outlook.
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