I just returned from the Microsoft East Region Architect Forum in Washington, DC and enjoyed the trip. There was some excellent content, but equally important was seeing some old friends and meeting fellow architects from other great companies all along the eastern seaboard.
One subject that (all too briefly) came up during a discussion was that one company has been effectively using mailing-list based technology discussion groups. The key to their success was that by using email, people didn't have to context-switch over to another place for discussions, such as a forums application. Having seen my share of discussion ideas start with a bang and fizzle out from lack of use (forums, intranets and internal NNTP groups,) I clearly understand the value keeping discussions front-and-center with employees' daily routines.
The problem with this approach is that mailing lists have no memory. You send an email and it either gets deleted or squirreled away in various recipients' private folders. A new employee comes along, has a similar question and has to send a repetitive email.
What I need is the ability to set up distribution lists that have the ease-of-use of email, but where messages get stored for all users to access at any later point and, more importantly, are searchable.
Have you seen anything that would enable such a scenario? Configurations of or additions to Exchange? Applications of SharePoint? Are there any third-party forum packages that support posting & reading entirely via email?
-Chris