Microsoft goes Social Networking on SharePoint
In the last week conference a new part of the ShaerPoint family was announced: Knowledge Network.
To say it in Microsoft own words:
Knowledge Network for Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 
Knowledge Network for Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 is software for enterprise search and social networking that helps users collaborate more effectively by automating the discovery and sharing of previously undocumented information and relationships. Knowledge Network enhances Office SharePoint Server 2007 by adding the ability to search for who knows whom and who knows what in an organization.
You can use Knowledge Network to do the following:
- Find people who have expertise in a subject
- Find people who can help you connect with someone else
- Find people who have contacts at a specific company or organization
- Find out who and what you have in common with others
Knowledge Network is composed of two components, a client-side and a server-side. The client-side component analyzes emails at a local level searching for keywords and contacts and creates automated profiles for each member who joins the network. Each member in the Knowledge Network controls their information at a local level, deciding which information they share with others in the network, so personal information stays private. The server-side component, hosted within Office SharePoint Server 2007, aggregates and indexes profiles across the enterprise. Together, the client and server modules enhance the SharePoint 2007 platform with powerful social networking capabilities.
De software is now available for download on Microsoft Betaplace.
There is a blog on Knowledge Network from the development team: http://blogs.msdn.com/kn/.
Other blog entries to have a look at:
http://www.joiningdots.net/blog/2006/05/ms-knowledge-network.html
http://craigrandall.net/archives/2006/05/knowledge-network/
I wonder is the client software that analyzes your mail is the Snarf application from Microsoft Research.