27. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: instructions for generating a user interface at a web server for display at a local processing unit; instructions for accessing an electronic record resident on the web server; instructions for displaying at the user interface the electronic record; instructions for receiving an indication of a portion of the electronic record corresponding to an annotation; instructions for receiving position information from one of a plurality of users, the position information for displaying a discussion window at a location in the electronic record proximate to the indicated portion; instructions for receiving a plurality of annotations input by the plurality of users, each of the plurality of annotations corresponding to the annotation; instructions for successively displaying at the discussion window the plurality of annotations, the plurality of annotations time-tagged relative to its time of input by the plurality of users; instructions for receiving instructions from at least one of the plurality of users for electronically communicating at least a subset of the plurality of annotations to an identified recipient; instructions to display the discussion window in the electronic record; instructions for customizing the discussion window based on a determination made by one of the plurality of users; instructions for customizing the discussion window by assigning a color code to the discussion window, wherein the assigning of the color code is based on at least one of: a categorization of the discussion window; importance of the discussion window; and a characteristic of the discussion window; upon receipt of the instructions for electronically communicating a subset of the plurality of annotations, instructions for launching an email program resident on the web server and sending to the email program a copy of the subset of the plurality of annotations, and associating the electronic record with the plurality of annotations and storing the plurality of annotations in the electronic record on the web server upon receipt of each of the plurality of annotations.
29. The computer program product according to claim 27 , wherein a style and the location of the discussion window are modifiable based upon receipt of instructions from one of the plurality of users.