Philippe Rouchy, explores Unified Messaging Services (UMS) using ethnography. He explains the context in which UMS technology is developed and then demonstrates how evaluative ethnography can work as a tool of fruitful comparison between present and future, as a first proxy to the use of a yet-to-come technology. This he does by looking at the role of ethnography in CSCW and then drawing on four vignettes, designed to draw out specific features of the new technology. In doing this, he draws interesting comparisons between the concepts of users and consumers; and between useability and usefulness. He concludes that going from CSCW studies of distributed work in large organisations to CSCW studies of the use of mobile technology in private and individualised settings allows forthcoming technology to be assessed. In particular, evaluative ethnography can help to formulate socio-economic dimensions of users rather than technical design suggestions.