What you see above is the result of entering ping /? at a DOS / Windows command prompt. From the available parameters you’ll see that there’s actually no way to ping someone via IBM Lotus Sametime or ‘ping a note over’ to someone.
Please see here for more details, and please stop using the term ‘ping’ incorrectly.
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Rubbish
PEBCAK
Get out of the wrong side of the bed today, Darren?
Oh dear.. I’m afraid that I disagree with your assessment that “ping” is being used incorrectly.
IMO, Ping is a good term as it matches the typical new message notification sound that most IM clients use and is easier to say than the brand name of your favourite IM software.
Sorry.
@3 – that’s okay, you’re entitled to your opinion and don’t have to be sorry for it. I hear “ping a note” being used as “send an e-mail” so doesn’t relate to instant messaging.
@2 – no more than usual Stu
Pedantry’s the last thing to try on the web. Else you get folks like me saying that ‘Ping’ was a term used in submarine warfare to describe painting a target with sound. Literally, a ping.
—* Bill
@5 – I’ve not yet seen anyone piloting a submarine around the office.
Ah… may I introduce the concept of “term overload”. The same word can have different meanings. Like: bank (financial institution), bank (edge of a river), bank (turning movement – military use), bank (rely on). My favourite: AND. Give me the customers in London AND Paris vs. Give me the customers with a BMW AND an expiring contract. The former resolves into (WHERE CITY = ‘London’ OR CITY = ‘Paris’).
AND (meaning: here is an additional argument): Thomas and Bill point out, that a lot computer terms (ping, thread, task etc.) had meanings before. I like the new mail ping. So “ping” would mean: bring to my attention.
As Bill says in @5: The term “ping “originally comes form anti-submarine warfare. The computer/network term comes from the fact that (just as with sonar), you send a signal (accoustic for ASW or electronic for computers) and wait for a response.
I only use the term “ping” when I am sending something with an expectation of getting a response back.
E.g. “I just pinged John about the server upgrade status”.
You can of cause use different carriers for your “ping”, could be phone, email, IM, SMS message, etc. But a message you send out with a reasonable expectation to geta (fairly quick and short) response can be called a “ping”, IMHO.
However, I would not use the term for any email or IM you send out. No matter if it says “ping”, “bing” or “you got mail” on the other side.
Thanks for taking it so seriously everyone. Next week we’ll discuss the term “tongue in cheek”.
When I get a ping, I respond with a pong.
Darren
So what term would you use instead of ping ? Would “Sametime” someone, or would you “send them an instant message via IBM Lotus Workplace Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing ( Sametime )” ?
Personally, I’d prefer to “ping” them, but I’m also quite happy to “slap” them instead
Tweet
@12 – I don’t mind if people use ‘ping’. I’m more amused than anything else, but I’m also interested if this is happening outside of IBM too. ‘Leverage’ used as a verb was the first bad habit that I noticed inside IBM, it spread and now happens everywhere. And now we have that another word used in IBM (begins with ‘c’ and used for reviews), the meaning of which has completely been warped.
I can assure you that ‘ping me’ has been in widespread use outside of IBM for quite a few years. I probably first heard it used by a network guy close to 20 years ago.
And the best use of the word “ping” (from the best movie ever)
“Give me a ping, Vasili. One ping only, please.”
p.s. Nice theme
@14 – best movie ever? I don’t recall that line being in Team America
I know, I know, The Hunt For Red October… which I guess proves Bill is right (as usual).