One of the pleasures of being an analyst is spending hours on the phone learning of the latest innovations from vendors regarding their products. To animate such discussions, a presentation is often forwarded before the call which is used to talk through the subject matter. However, if the vendor does not want to release its presentation or a demonstration is involved then web conferencing tools, which allow the presenter to control your PC screen remotely, are the order of the day.

This was the case for one such briefing I had recently. But I am not about to launch into a review of the relative merits of tools such as Cisco's WebEx, Microsoft LiveMeeting or Citrix Online GoToMeeting, all of which are installed on my PC ready for such briefings as there is no standard front-end for such tools (note the gripe).

What interested me most about the recent briefing was the opening question from the presenter: "Do you have the WebEx session up and running?" My answer had to be "No, I have the Citrix Online GoToMeeting session up and running". OK, more of a mouthful, but at least accurate. Is WebEx—arguably the best known web conferencing tool—becoming a noun?

It would not be the first IT industry brand name to make the transition to common language. A Microsoft representative once admonished me for saying I had "Googled" something, the preferred verb I was told would be "MSNed" it, which is not likely to catch on, and anyway in this case like most of the rest of the world the truth was I had used Google.

But Microsoft has had more lexicographic success in other areas. With the tables turned I was once with a Google rep who was about to launch into a lengthy looking presentation and I remarked that I hoped it would not be "death by PowerPoint". No, I was told, this would be death by "Google Docs Presentation Manager". In this case it was the truth (the tool, not the death), but unlikely to catch on while PowerPoint is still so widely used.

Of course, brand names have entered the language before and stayed even if the original vendor or product ceases to dominate its market. Many of us will "Hoover" with a "Dyson" and blow our noses with a "Kleenex" supplied by any number of lesser-known manufacturers.

I guess the consolation for Citrix Online is that people may say WebEx but some at least pay for its GoToMeeting service. It is doing OK in the product sales battle, even if it is losing in the dictionary. Furthermore Citrix Online is unlikely to have to worry about the weakening of legal protection for the GoToMeeting brand name that might ensue if it became part of common language.