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AOL Shuts Down 3rd Party IM Software?
David Gervais noted that AOL has begun shutting out third party IM software (among other things, breaking the Linux clones). Their error message is "AOL IMer Client: Gaim CVS Version.
09:24:11 AOL Instant Messenger: You have been disconnected from the AOL Instant Message Service (SM) for accessing the AOL network using unauthorized software." Can someone confirm this, or is Mr Gervais on something here? I've had several folks say they can get through just fine. Perhaps this is just a Gaim CVS bug? Update: 09/11 05:12 PM by C : Have tested AIM connectivity with Gaim v0.9.20 and Everybuddy 0.1.4 with no problems. Sorry for the scare.
tell aol that you are using their TAC client. see aimirc for more information.
With IM, you just get spammed all the time, and AoL's email is FILLED with spam, mostly XXX garbage. That's not what I want showing up in my mailbox for sure. So, use ICQ! Check out www.icq.com if you've never heard of it. It's free obviously, and I think more people use it. I don't think it would be hard to write a version for *nix, and I think that since AoL has done what they have, we should be expecting a third party to write one, or ICQ themselves... if they are smart that is!
How does AOL survive providing their own content and their own "interface" to the internet?
And now they sever another link between their clients and the outside world? I don't get it.
dynamo
Perspectrum - All possible views or perspectives on an issue.
Okay, I cant make it short and sweet because of "Lameness filter". First time i've encountered that. They make money off the ads ;)
We get enough buffer overflows by accident. I'm sure that setting one up intentionally shouldn't be too hard. ;-) And if everything else fails, just boycott the AOL protocol entirely and use ICQ or Yahoo instead.
-RickHunter
err... www.IMUnified.org
...people will check with others before posting stories like this. It would be nice for slashdot and story posters to cut down on the inaccurate information being rolled on like wallpaper to the site. at least 12 of my friends in the area use GAIM and have had no problems whatsoever.
Rather takes the fun out of making the jump, now doesn't it?
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if they only want their client to talk to their server, they are entitled. This may suck for everyone in the short term,
certainly they are entitled to want that, but it is questionable whether they are legally entitled to have that, and doubly questionable whether they should be legally entitled to have that. Consider the telephone. It used to be that you could only connect a Bell telephone to the one company's circuits. Now you can connect any kind to a choice of servers, and the world is unquestionably a better place. The changeover required a change in the law and it took 100 years. That did suck for everyone, and lets not repeat it.
but alternatives will prevail if they stay closed.
Not necessarily. This industry, like the telephone, could be an example of a natural monopoly, in which case it takes active opposition/regulation to keep it open, cheap, and innovative.
No, actually it's here.
- Mike
And then AOL will do the same for ICQ.... evil cycle.
From the few response of people that actually tried it appears just to be a CVS bug. I wish people would check facts before assuming that a problem with CVS is of any significance. For the record, i am have had no problems running the release ver.
Uhm... so what you are saying is that... AOL's servers should not be legally entitled to shut out clients that they don't like, even though it is THEIR hardware.
On the other hand, the sentiment is that spammers should not be allowed to send their junk mail to YOUR machine, because it is YOUR hardware.
Let's be consistent, shall we? Either you allow spammers access to your hardware, or you allow AOL to deny unauthorized access to their hardware.
Who Wants To Date A Norwegian?
This is typical. /. posts about something with virtually no information about it. We all know that more facts will probably surface in 24 hours, probably contradicting much of what is known now, but /. will be first on the scene. Of course, you can also bet on hundreds of people flaming AOL and drawing conclusions. Being first isn't more important than having something to say.
-- Solaris Central - http://w
Am I a glassy-eyed libertarian? Not in any way. The community has a responsibility to itself and we should insist that AIM and services like AIM have open standards, and we should legislate, hack, clone, whatever to get there. I want to achieve the same "best" result you do, but I don't want to get preachy and moralize about it. There's nothing wrong with AOL's attitude, but we need to make sure they don't get what they want as it hurts us.
may want to check up on your stories once in awhile.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
This point seems to be forgotten in every discussion brought up involving AOL. There are two protocols that AIM can use, the proprietary one that AOL's Windows Clients use (and M$ insists on using, hence their being kicked off of it), and the TOC protocol, which is the open-source equivalent. The reason that GAIM users are currently being kicked off is that they were recently given the option in the configuration setup to choose which protocol to use, and chose the proprietary one, which is an unauthorized connection. If you switch back to TOC, which is the default in such OSS programs as TiK, you won't have any problems connecting. How is it that this point is fore-gone during every IM discussion? I really don't know.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
AOL has had a linux beta out for a few months now. You can find it here
JOIN !LINK CLUB!
In case anyone cares to stop bickering, AOL already has an official Linux client in the works here. Have fun!
/. zen: Imagine a Beowulf cluster of Beowulf clusters...
Hello, All. Rob Flynn here, Gaim Maintainer and leader devleoper. We have, on some occasions, experienced this as well. It only happens, however, when using our experimental oscar support. Our Oscar support is based on a package called libfaim. This is a somewhat reverse engineered library that allows anyone to use the OSCAR server. AOL has recently started blocking libfaim. Note: They are not blocking the clients theselves it appears to only be this library. I spoke with several people at AOL and learned that the TOC servers would not be affected. (I guess we can still expect the occasional TOC-Burp that we all experience from time to time). If anyone has any questions on this matter, please feel free to let me know. Thanks and Take Care, Rob PS: Gaim 0.10.0 was released this morn' :-)
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
The same as in the great CueCat debate.
How is AOL going to make money?
AOL thinks there are lots of ways to make money on messaging. One of their executives is quoted as saying that Instant Messaging is AOL's most important asset.
But clearly, they think they can only succeed if they control the client as well as the servers. And a route into their system where they don't control the client is apparently unacceptable to them.
Happy Premise #3: Even though I feel like I might ignite, I probably won't.
This has happened before.
Aol seems to be changing the authentication
a bit, maybe standardizing. Tried upgrading?
A new versiom of gaim showed up yesterday and
I'm not having any problems connecting.
I don't understand what the big deal is here...why are so many linux clients using the AOL private protocol, when AOL relased a public protocol (TOC) that works just fine? Not only does the public protocol still work, it also supports storing buddy lists on the server, which is a very nice feature.
As far as I know, however, only tik and tac use TOC. All the other stuff uses the half-working, mostly-broken, half-implemented FAIM implementation of AOL's private protocol. Is everyone just crazy, or what?
I don't blame AOL for breaking support for their private protocol. Just use the public one. Its there, it works. What's the big deal?
AFAIK, there are two AIM protocols... There is TOC which was the original protocol and was later open-sourced so that other people could write clients (like AOL's old Tk client). Then there is OSCAR, which is the better protocol that has more features, but has no docs behind it.
Reportedly, AOL has been talking about closing their TOC servers for a while now, and my guess is that they finally did that. Clients which use OSCAR (this includes everybuddy) are unaffected.
There's more info in the Everybuddy FAQ.
Please note that the above "facts" are all based on heresay and conjecture.
Yes, that's exactly it. Third-party clients bypass the ads and so they cost AOL money.
You're just going to have to accept the fact that this is AOL's technology and they have the right to exclude whatever they want.
Frankly, I don't understand the commotion. There must be open alternatives, so why not use those instead? Or do you really want to talk to people who like AOL? My email client automatically deletes all email from aol.com, because only lusers use AOL, so why would I want to talk to them anyway?
--
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
I'd hardly call capitalists "jedis," unless you're talking about the dark kind.
lf.o
AOL isn't scoffing at the "standards". First off, their isn't a standard. Secondly, if a standard comes about it'll be formed from a commitee of a bunch of companies like Microsoft. Thirdly, if a standard is agreed upon, AOL has stated that they will evaluate the technical merits of the standard and conform AIM to those standards if it is worthy.
Refrag
I have a website. It's about Macs.
Cool. Lets sue AOl and claim they are denying access for NON-handicapped Americans (ie. Not Windoze users).
Sig it.
I never implied that it wasn't free.
Send your friends messages of love at fuck-you.org
AOL did release a Linux beta of AIM on their web site. However, the program is extremely light on features -- it doesn't even have ads (yet) and supports only the basics of the TOC protocol: messages, away, and buddy chat. I wouldn't be surprised if AOL managed to break this program as well.
For more information, click here.
I am the author of jaim (www.freshmeat.net/projects/jaim) and AOL _WAS_ blocking clients. This is entirely true. I had to spoof TiK to get my client to work.
------------
a funny comment: 1 karma
an insightful comment: 1 karma
a good old-fashioned flame: priceless
this sig limit is too small to put anything good h
Hey, thanks for the tip... Now, any idea how to get rid of the blank spaces where the ads used to be? I'm guessing maybe this whole thing is possible so AOL users don't have to view a bunch of stupid ads telling them to join AOL...?
On the cost of servers issue, I think bundling is in general a bad idea for consumers as it generally represents an attempt by a company to leverage some strength in order to gain share for some inferior product or to damage a legitimate competitor. As consumers we protect ourselves if we set up markets such that we are not faced with choices of bundles that include inferior products. So, the answer would depend on AOL's revenue model. If ads pay for the servers, then I'd be happy to require that clones run the same ads. If they're giving away the service in order to garner share, then AFAIC they've agreed to give it away.
Linux users shouldn't expect to be able to use AOL Instant Messenger until after AOL for Linux has been released.
Well, this strikes me as somewhat amusing as I am running AIM for linux as we speak. Interested parties can check AOL's site.
peas,
-Kabloona
More than likely it is just something silly on my part. Try the upgrade to 0.10.0 and see if that fixes it. Cheers, Rob
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
They do that, they'll slowly go back to being a network effectively isolated from the rest of the internet. And I don't think they want that. Remember that the internet routes around damage. AOL is coming closer and closer to qualifying as damage.
-RickHunter
But that trick never works!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I mean, come on, they opened the TOC protocol - why would they do that, ostensibly to facilitate communication with AIM users from other clients, and then lock out clients?
-lx
Well, I use GAIM on my SGI Octane and I use AOL's own IM client on my Win box and what I say after this is sure to tick some people off. Let me first start off by saying that I am relatively neutral to this argument of open vs closed AOL IM access. The fact of the matter is that AOL did invent this platform and they run the servers that authenticate users. First off, the servers aren't free and any and all additional traffic they handle from third party apps comes without any revenue to support the costs while AOL's own client has ads that defray these costs and basically pay its way. Secondly, since AOL created this platform, why should they be forced to open it up? A good analogy to this would be that you started a really cool club that anyone could join, but a rival club that came out after most people already joined the cool one isn't as big and is jealous. The little club that came out with theirs years later is mad that they have less members so instead of trying to make an even better club they complain that the big cool club should share its members. Just something to think about...
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All generalizations are false.
--
I like to watch.
That's exactly what I was thinking as soon as I saw this article. I think that maybe some people don't realize (or have forgotten), that AOL is "in charge of" ICQ now.
-B
benjones@superutility.net
-B
Yup. That's why we also have our oscar support marked as 'Experimental' Our TOC Support (protocol-wise) is fully functional, as far as we know. We only added libfaim due to the TOC outeges that were experienced a while back. Eric got a little code happy, though, and decided to improve on it quite a bit :-)
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Didn't AOL do this to microsoft? It's their servers, they have a right to say what can and can't be on it.
=================
Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
I seem to remember an article posted here (I may be wrong, but if memory serves, it was at the beginning of all this mess 8-10 months ago) Microsoft and Yahoo! (among others) were willing to create an industry wide standard, but AOL refused to join in the talks, and since AOL has like 80+% of the market, those talks were pointless to hold.
Granted, it was probably a ploy by MS et al to get a piece of the action, but AOL did not want to have any part of it.
And as it stands, I'm MUCH more afraid of the AOL/TW merger than Microsoft. At least with MS, there are feasible alternatives.
Especially on a windows box, where every proggy runs as root, this would mean that any random script kiddie would have total control over a computer running AIM. That's a lost of people. Can anyone say "class action"?
If they only want their client to talk to their server, they are entitled. This may suck for everyone in the short term, but alternatives will prevail if they stay closed.
You're right -- sort of. The closed protocol used by AIM/AOL is Oscar while the open protocol is TOC. Everything else is correct, though :-)
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
I don't use AIM, but what if the client simply identifies itself as an official AOL client?
EagerEyes.org: Visualization and Visual Communication
It's not to tear down M$ - they want to BE the next M$.
This means they will want to confine and control you. Make you use their product because others aren't compatible. TO talk to their users, you have to use their software and see their ads. Your information will get recorded by them, and sold to anyone willing to pay them the $ they ask.
If the AOL/TW merger goes through - expect to see TW Cable saturated with AOL ads (and you thought they were bad now!) - expect RoadRunner service to go down the toilet and for prices to rise. Expect MORE spam - not less. Expect the spam to come in MORE formats - email, on-screen, TV, etc...
AOL's philosophy has been to spam since the beginning. Spamming people's snail-mailboxes with disks, and later CDs - spamming their users with ads for products they could probably care less about - spamming TV stations with ads (sometimes that play 2-3 times in a row) to make sure you repeat their name in your sleep. It's a not-so-subtle form of mind control - and it's working on the masses. They believe ANYTHING that AOL tells them. "We respect your privacy" - BULL$#!^ - the only thing AOL respects is the almighty dollar - and they'll do anything to get it.
I'm off-topic now...let's get back on...
Linux clients made by 3rd parties don't display AOL's ads to users. They don't track the user's habits and report back to AOL. They don't do ANYTHING other than be a messaging client.
And thus AOL can make NO money off of them.
So AOL shuts them out. People can't use them - so they'll use the "official" AOL software that makes AOL money. At least, that's AOL's opinion on the matter.
The linux community, however, will probably not conform to AOL's wishes - reverse engineering will get the clients back into the system, and linux users will be happy and ad-free.
AOL will change their "authentication" checks again.
Linux clients will reverse-engineer them and get back in.
Lather, rinse, repeat. It's the same $#!^ that they pulled with M$'s messenger program - except now it's hitting closer to home.
should bid on F*ckedCompany.com
Ad information is only sent over Oscar anyway. As we're based on TOC there is no way for us to receive any of the Ad information. AOL knew this at the time they developed the toc server and released the protocol.
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
Nuts .
For those who don't know the historical reference, pop open the nearest history book and flip to the WWII section. =) All this means is that now we're going to change the version the software reports and recompile. w00t, big deal, hardly worth a post to /..
--
The pseudo-sophisitated, let's try to show how smart I am answer -- network effects.
The practical answer: I use AIM because that is what many of my friends use. Some are on American online, many others are not. (Interestingly, Earthlink distributes its own version of the client. "Earthlink America Online.") They can't or won't use IRC for various reasons:
IRC is too difficult for them to learn, even with a graphical client like Mirc or Kirc.
IRC requires too much prior negotiation and agreement. Where is everybody? EFFnet? Undernet? Dalnet? Slashnet?
IRC does not have the same functionality. Don't laugh.
And, for the circular but nonetheless real reason that all of their friends use AIM.
Only Women Bleed (Sex, Sharia remix)
I seem to remember seeing a piece about a software project that allows AOL IM clients to connect to an IRC server an then send and receive messages via that. It seemed to be an addon for the ircd running (so you must be the owner of the IRC server to make this work.)
Perhaps something like this will allow us to use IM clients without having to go through AOL's servers. Seems like a good alternative for me.
Although personally, I don't use a IM client of any flavor. I prefer real, live IRC (because I don't have any friends).
Brought to you by Frobozz Magic Penguin Fodder.
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This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
AOL is not shutting off the community, they are supporting it, there is an official AIM client for linux, hell it was even posted on /. a few weeks ago.
/. crowd is that you don't just want people to play nice, you want them to play by your rules. "Open all servers to any kind of access we want" The truth is, the IM servers are theirs, if they wanted to shut out the linux community, then that is their perogative, but they have not, they have a client for you to use, you don't want to use their client, fine, you don't use their servers.
/dev/null
What really makes me mad at the
IM is popular because it is nearly ubiquitous, and AOL made it that way, if you want to have a competing Open Source messaging system, go for it, just don't expect to see everyone you know on it. If you want to talk to those people, you need AIM to connected to AOL's servers. Its really *QUITE* fair.
Stop Your whinning.
flames may be trashed before sending them my way, because they will end up there once they get here anyway, so save the bandwidth, type up your complaints calling me a moron or whatever and
file it in
I think....therefore I am
I reject your reality
doesn't AIM have an official Linux binary now?
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
Yes, it's their right. But it is also our right, as consumers and users of their technology, to complain. Is there something wrong with that? Do we have to accept silently everything we don't like from money-grubbing corporations because 'it's their right' to screw us over? Well, that seems to be their party line and you're buying it. We have a right to demand standards and openness, and yes, they have a right to refuse. That's capitalism... they give us what we want or we find it somewhere else.
72656B636148206C72655020726568746F6E41207473754A
.. or use an non-proprietary-dependent chatty thingee. I agree, people should know better than to use non-free 'free stuff' from Big Business Boys. There always is a catch.
If you can do no good, at least do no harm.
lf.o
You're using the OSCAR protocol. Please revert to using TOC (under Preferences->Connection) It was covered in an earlier thread.
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
Why did AIM/ICQ decide to use a centralized database? If you use that design and you have a few million members, of course you're going to have growing pains. Of course you're going to need an insane machine to handle the traffic.
But look at the Email or WWW. THese are decentralized systems and thus can handle the load very easily. They distribute out the overhead to thousands of hosts. Or look at battle.net versus the clones.
The reason that AIM/ICQ are centralized and require a big machine is because they designed that way. They were designed so that they had a common and fixed chokepoint that the corporations cound control and exploit.
Design it differently: Design a protocol where a user has a name of and all messages are sent to that host automatically for that user. THat way you can decentralize it and handle hundreds of millions of users and billions of messages. It worked for email, where people send megabyte powerpoint presentations, it'll work for ICQ where people wrote 4 line messages.
About time to embrace EveryBuddy?? It has had problems in the past, and I don't currently use it since everyone I know uses AIM, but it seems to be a great solution at least for Linux users...why not use the same app to connect to all of the IM systems, when a new one pops up, just add that to the list. Granted this doesn't solve the problem if AOL or any of the others decided to shut down their service completely or deny access from unknown clients......
Funny and I thought Perl == Paid employment recently located
The Jabber server at jabber.com seems to be able to connect to AIM with no problem. I'm using it right now.
Jeez, Buddy, you left out the words "evil" and "heartless" and "money-grubbing."
It's just their stuff and they want to try to protect it, just like you do with your stuff.
-Pete
It doesn't have support for http (not https, who cares about that) proxy, it still needs socks 4 or 5... So it's still useless to me... Maybe I should get a new job just so I can use AIM.
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
You misread this. "Benefits" in the above statement means "benefits to AOL".
I don't disagree that this is what AOL means, but AOL said "benefits to as many consumers as possible." Which, while an interesting corporatist way of saying "we want to have more and more people identify IM technology with AOL", does leave the implication that AOL is committed to reaching as many people as possible.
I use AIM at work and I don't think I've ever seen a third party advertisement banner, but I've seen a ton of "Free AOL" ads. My brain may have just started filtering them all out....
Anyhoo, AOL is a company with a product the generates no profit. The only other time I've seen a company distribute products this way was in order to seize up the market with its own brand. Perhaps someone ran some numbers at AOL and decided it was time to change missions.
My $.02,
--Pete
I never paid for the Windows version of AIM, as far as I know, it's still available as freeware. So where are they getting any revenue that way?
Although they grudgingly brought themselves into the internet age by finally using a normal TCP/IP stack, AOL still tries to act like a insular glorified BBS system at times.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
You are correct. The default protocol in GAIM is TOC as well. The users that are having problems are the ones that chose to use the "experimental" OSCAR Support. Cheers and Happy Hackin' Rob
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
At first AOL's action seemed more than a little hypocritical to me in light of this, but then I noticed that, because of the presence of the actual AIM icon on the GUI, there must have been some sort of licensing fee paid to AOL by Lotus.
So I guess AOL just wants those licensing fees. I'm not saying this is a smart move on their part - there's plenty of ways to make money off the service without restricting the open clients.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
We're not locked into their IM client or server. In fact, you're even free to start your own IM service!
--
Albeit this critique has been leveled before towards Slashdot, it can't be said enough - RESEARCH YOUR STORIES BEFORE YOU POST THEM!
Particularly true if the story in question only required 10 seconds of verification - firiong up your AIM client and checking to see if you stay on.
Posting this, getting everyone worried, and then posting a correction like 'Sorry for the scare' doesn't cut it. Yeah, granted, writing evil-empire scare stories about how EVIL AOL is, might look nice in print, but it makes you look like an idiot if the story ends up being false.
Harry
AOL is a pay service, AIM is not.
And there are pay by the hour plans, but not pay by the minute.
_dedhed
You misread this. "Benefits" in the above statement means "benefits to AOL". You know, things such as advertisement revenue from the ads that AIM shoves at you. 3rd party clients detract from these benefits of AIM.
--Joe--
Program Intellivision!
Conclusions made here ... AOL is full of it, they want to make sure that they aren't next on the Monopoly lawsuit list and they'll blow all kinds of smoke and whistles to make it look like they're for the community.
AOL wants to get on my side ... they'll release the OSCAR protocol, not just TOC.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
I'm glad most AOL'ers are partitioned off to a 'safe' corner of the internet away from me. AIM blows hard anyhow, I can't see why anyone would use it.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Who does AOL think they are? Well, they built and are supporting a successful IM network. It's theirs, and they let you use it for free. So I think they can dictate a *few* things. Like what software to use on it.
You don't like it, use Jabber. Set up a server, promote it, spend your money on it, and get my grandma to use it.
Where is the official Linux AIM client?
Sig it.
I'm just going to say one thing: Jabber. Can be found on jabber.org. Opensource, clients are available for a wide variety of OS's, the server can be downloaded and installed quite easily, it has plugin serverside modules for communicating with existing ICQ, AIM, MSN Messenger and Jabber users. Hell, it can even be used as an IRC client!
Having used one of the "approved" AIM clients for quite some time now I can say that I've never once seen an advertisement that wasn't simply begging you to sign up for AOL in return for however many hundreds of free hours they were offering at the time. Given this, you can't really say that they're losing any advertising revenue since they aren't getting any to begin with. I sincerely doubt a significant number of people have signed up for AOL because of those advertisements in the AIM clients.
You know AOL hasn't done much with ICQ since they bought the rights to it... Well besides adding in a 'basic mode' that makes it look like AIM on command... Which frankly I'm gratful for because I've used ICQ loyally for 5 years now... I have 12 listings for me caused by the old days when it couldn't always simply reconnect your old account after a re-install fo the software...
They do own sizable IM market share, but I dont' think we can claim a monopoly for that... Not with MSN, Yahoo, Pow Wow, and 12 or so other IM's out their...
we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
And what happens when loading a banner once every 5 minutes or so becomes part of the authentication? /dev/null.
The 3rd party clients will have to load the banners, and AOL will get their money. But it would be up to the implementer if they want to *display* the banner they loaded, or filter it to
So long as the auth protocol doesn't require that a user *click* on a banner periodically, this could be a semi-workable solution. AOL gets their money, linux users have a non-AOL client that doesn't show the banners and still allows IM functions, and everyone is happy. Right???
AOL is a pay service, however, AIM is not a pay service. AIM has been free for users for a long time. They just want people to use that, like it, and then start using AOL. However, this leaves out a lot of slashdot users as they are, for the most part, Linux users. I am one of those. AOL is trying to rectify this, and has put out a version of AIM for LInux, however, I'm still a fan of GAIM. It works very well, and stably. At least the version I'm using. Basically my point is that they are not losing revenue. They are probably gaining revenue. They dont' have to do the programming for a Linux client, therefore don't have to pay programmers to do it, and they still get the word-of-mouth advertising from the people that use AIM on Linux.
Update: 09/11 05:12 PM by C: Have tested AIM connectivity with Gaim v0.9.20 and Everybuddy 0.1.4 with no problems. Sorry for the scare.
Just because you can connect doesn't mean they aren't trying to stop those clients. If you look at the message that was quoted in the story description it seems to imply that the person connected and was later disconnected.
AOL IMer Client: Gaim CVS Version. 09:24:11 AOL Instant Messenger: You have been disconnected from the AOL Instant Message Service (SM) for accessing the AOL network using unauthorized software.
I've been disconnected a few times in the last couple days when I've been using Gaim. In fact 2 days ago I was chatting with another friend who was also using Gaim, and both of us got disconnected at the same time, but the other friends we were chatting with using the official AOL versions on Windows didn't have any problems. Coincidence? I think not. I think they're checking at random intervals instead of as you connect.
Well, doesn't it?
I'm glad Sir Taco took the time to apologize. Every now and then on the TiK mailing list we get people scared to death that AOL has blocked TiK users, but it always ends up being a network or tcl problem. Nothing to see here, move on.
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
Did mirabilis have some other revenue stream? i'm just ASKING, i'm not flaiming..
It only happens if you are using OSCAR..
/*
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
I guess it's my own fault for not reading the AIM user agreement, but this really leaves me concerned:
Apparently, AOL shows AIM users e-mail accounts in the AOL Buddy Lists -- and checks to see if your e-mail client is online, even when AIM is not on.
Maybe this has been talked about here before, but DAMN! I can't help but be wigged out by this privacy violation.
When you discover youve been standing in shit you dont jump up and down on it to punish it.You walk away -Alan Moore
Its better and there are a billion different clients for it.
kxicq being my favorite.
Do not spread "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" over the internet, thank you.
one of my roommates is a aol connectivity programmer here in reston. he told me the real issue is not access to their network. it's that all packets transmitted on the aol network have a copyright inside the packet. so in effect everytime an unauthorized client attaches to their network they are perpetrating copyright infringement because of the transmitted packets.
this apparently is the reason nobody has really tried to ip spoof the aol network. besides the fact that all aol packets for clients are b-class private and all internal packets are a-class private net addresses. the spoofer would not only be facing the hacking charges but aol would dump enormous copyright charges against them.
You see a problem, I see potential. - Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli
This is how it all works folks, they make a service, and want you to use thier service with thier client. You can go off and make your own client (that is the risk that they take by giving it all away for free), and they cant complain that you made it, but they can keep changing thier servers so that only thier client can access it.
or, maybe I have no idea what i am say at all, as usual.
.mincus
There are lots of *nix versions of ICQ. However, it sucks too. Let me count (a few of) the ways...
ICQ transmits your passwords plaintext.
Messages are easily spoofable.
There's no third-party extensability.
You can't run your own server (at least, not and communicate with the rest of the world).
There's no support for encrypted or signed messages.
And finally, it's controlled by a commercial entity. Don't want these things? Use jabber (www.jabber.org). Jabber is actually an XML-based protocol, so there are lots of differenct clients which conform. Since it's largely serverside, new clients (and clients for different platforms) are easy to write, and once a client has stabilized it very rarely needs upgrading (even to add features like ICQ compatability -- it's all done serverside).
Try Jabber. You'll like it. And if you don't, come back in 6 months and try it again.
That's not because of people not caring about AOL.
The next topic, about Campus Pipeline, was posted at 11:03AM. Quite a few posts were made to it before Slashdot pulled the story, and reposted it an hour later. So it had more time to build up replies.
AIM also includes advertising. Clients from other vendors do not have the advertising (I use Yahoo). If AOL allowed other vendors into their servers, they won't get the ad $$$ they are used to.
...phil
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
I use GAIM 0.9.20 and have not been kicked off, in fact I restarted it just to make sure. The official AOL client however give me an "unknown error" when I login. It'd be just like AOL to break their own client while trying to kick out all the non-official ones.
"My head hurts, My feet stink, and I dont love Jesus." -Jimmy Buffett
Isn't AOL making their IM software available on Linux? If so, their probably just doing it to have AOL only clients whenever (somewhat nicely) possible. They were only bugging the MS clients before, because they could just use AOLs own client. I assume the AOL client has ads, or something. So now, they want the Linux people to see the ads?
There are two AIM servers. One is called Oscar and one is called TOC. AIM, and the AOL client software use TOC. The other one, Oscar, is "available" to the world. If AOL really really wanted to shut down 3rd part AIM clients, they'd have to shut down Oscar. This is not what they did.
They just started looking for a client string in the network protocol. This is similar to the HTTP request header, or the MP3 stream ACK, or whatever. Find a copy of QuckBuddy (AOL's Java client), or if you're developing a client, change the name of the connect string so Oscar thinks it's getting a valid client.
GAIM homepage
GAIM source tarball
All other types (RPM, DEB, etc)
- Bill
And where they go, the rest follow...
Anyone interested in a betting pool on
how long it is before there is a patched
gaim on helix-update?
The current release is about stable enough for daily use, IMHO...
/joeyo
2^5
Here's to hoping AIM dies a horrible heat death and AOL users never realize there is a world beyond the AOL servers.
This is not the way to build a lasting empire.
Do you think, just maybe, there is a bug in the CVS code??
No, that can't ever happen. It has to be AOL's fault.....
Hello!
Lately I had to log on to the 'net using my AOL account. I left my AIM chat channel open for a while and *surprise*, I began getting XXX AIM messages that originated outside of AOL. They're easy to recognize because AOL warns you that an Internet AIM user wishes to chat, etc. Once I clicked 'OK' and checked the message out. Based on what I saw, and my request for chatting more (user no longer logged on), I think that the message was generated by some robot traversing an AOL acct's list.
I speculate that this is the reason why they're shutting down third-party AIM clients, particularly those that aren't certified, whatever that means.
DISCLAIMER: I use AOL as my ISP when I travel overseas because they've got local access numbers in every country/city I ever been to, unlike almost any other ISP. That way I pay $5/hour for connecting rather than $5/minute for using my US PPP connections to my own 'net.
Comments?
Ehttp://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
GAIM 0.9.20 and TiK 0.87 worked for me. My friend who uses Windows never noticed the difference (I started our conversation in Windows and finished in Linux).
First of all, the protocol that the clones use was created by AOL to be open. This is the same protocol the AIM that they released for linux not that long ago uses AFAIK. AOL has also begun to move buddy lists onto their server, probably using the same protocol since it already did this before. This allows people to access their buddy list anywhere. AOL should expect there to be clones anyway since they did publish very explicit documentation on the toc protocol. Now why was this posted I would like to know. Slashdot rumor mill? heh
_joshua_
AOL will do with it's technology as it pleases, as it is their right. They own the servers and the software protocol. While blocking the 3rd party clients is an incredibly stupid move on their part, it is understandable, and it's fully within their right. Do we have a right to complain/gripe? yes. Do we have a right to demand or expect AOL to change its ways? No, we don't pay for instant messenger service, it's a free program we are given the privledge of using. Don't like what AOL is doing? Go to another service. Your friends staying on AOL IMs and refusing to switch? That's your problem. You can't have everything your way, so get over it.
Thank you to the developers of Gaim. It's the nicest available AIM clone for Linux. A few months back there was a change in the AIM system that made Gaim not work, and that same day Gaim released a patch to fix it. I congratulate them for producing free software and keeping it low on bugs and still working with the ever changing AIM system.
That's all I had to say, time to download the new 0.10.0 version to see what's new.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
Please check the facts before making such statements! When was the last time you tried to spoof a message? This bug was fixed a long time ago.
Right around 9:30 last night (9/10) my Mac Client of AIM shut off due to an "unexpected loss of connection". I got offline, restarted, waited 5 minutes, and got back on with no problem.
Happens once in a rare while..
I think it's just AOL bein a dork.
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Is there any protocol for doing IM on IRC? would it be a bandwidth problem to have 25,000,000 users have a 'login' to a chat channel in order to have the 'person is online' functionality? Or would it need a extra protocol on the clients tcp/ip ports in order to handle the person-to-person connectivity. (wait a minute that's icq) Eg: port 1023 for IM incoming data. Maybe have nested channels (for indexing/searching ease) and have all users start at level #person/a/b/r/a/abracadabra.
IRC is already a distributed multi-homed parallel database of channels. The search routine would be a bit tricky without nested channels I think. The infrastucture seems to be there already. Question is can it handle this?
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
Last night, I was chatting on AIM with my girlfriend, when she stopped receiving messages. Well, ok, I'd been chatting earlier, and then she sent me a message, and I replied, but she never got it. I tried for an hour and 10 minutes, but she never got any messages. At that point she went to sleep.
This morning I was able to talk to her with Gaim, though.
Weird, eh? It looked to me like I was sending messages. No errors, but they just didn't get through.
I'm using v0.9.20.
---
END OF LINE
I don't dance with the devil. *wink*
Send your friends messages of love at fuck-you.org
If you want a IM provider that plays nice with linux, FreeBSD, MacOs and Windows, try Yahoo. I have been using their client for a few months on all of the above platforms and I'm very satisfied.
You have a choice, you don't need to feed the beast.
God forbid AOL be allowed to collect ad revenue from an instant-messaging service that runs on millions of dollars worth of equipment. Instant messaging is only "cheap" and "easy" to implement when you have a few thousand users.
This is one case where GPL'ed software isn't going to win out for at least a few years. Right now, a large IM system requires massive, massively-parallel directory and routing services, which require massive databases (read: not MySQL or Postgres 7) and massive servers with fast interconnect and low latency.
All of this costs money. If you open the protocol and the servers to all comers, where does that money come from? The GAIM team could build in support for AOL's ads, but the GPL would allow for patched or forked versions that strip out the ads. So it wouldn't do AOL any good to ask the GAIM team to support its ads.
For a bunch of Microsoft-skeptics, Slashdot readers are mighty easily swayed by Microsoft's PR spin on this. AOL isn't being anti-competitive by blocking 3rd-party clients. They're protecting a revenue stream that pays (they hope) for dozens of racks of expensive servers and millions of dollars in database licenses.Microsoft and Yahoo aren't fighting for freedom. They're fighting to convince naive courts that they have a "right" to strip out AOL's ads--on a service AOL is paying for in its entirety--and replace them with their own ads. If it goes to arbitration and MS and Yahoo are told they can make AIM clients as long as they give AOL's ads and ad-reporting mechanisms clear passage, you'll see MS and Yahoo lose interest in the whole idea mighty quickly indeed.
Massive peer-to-peer systems without central servers are a tough thing to do right now. Just ask the folks at Napster and the other filesharing projects. All of them are running clusters of independent servers. Sign on to Napster twice, and you'll see two sets of users and files.
When an equally massive, fully-distributed scheme for instant message routing and directory services becomes viable, those expensive central servers can go away, and so can the need for massive revenue. Seems to me something could be cobbled together out of a stripped-down version of OpenLDAP and ml.org-style dynamic DNS projects, so that any of your devices that are connected report their presence, and the lookups get farmed out over zillions of LDAP servers doing referrals.
By the time this happens, of course, text-based instant messaging may well be fading out in favor of IP telephony and videoconferencing, both of which all of the instant-messaging players are rolling into their clients as fast as they can.
Capitalists = sith lords Geeks = Jedi
So Long and Thanks for all the Fish.
Gaim has had Oscar support since version 0.9.20. This means that they're unaffected by this recent change.
But now that there's an official Linux client, I 'm sure we'll see them attack the rest of the non-ad-showing clone clients very soon.
This is another case of the real world encroaching on something the geeks thought they already had under control.
Works for me too, though accessing the "info" function causes it to hang Don't know if that's a "gaim" bug or caused by the AOL servers gacking the client.
--
Your Servant, B. Baggins
Right here.
Ok, so it's not "official" per se - but it's the best client out there. Unlike gaim it only needs tk/tcl to run so it will work on Solaris/BSD/Linux/Windoze/...
I wish Slashdot would research their stories better.
Abashed the Devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is
I just connected to AOL IM via gaim just fine with version gaim-0.9.20-0. I don't see what the big deal is.
Jon
I thought that AOL/Netscape merger was going to TEAR DOWN Microsoft. Wasn't that their main goal?
How does removing one of their only useful services from Linux help accomplish this?
It's their service, so why all the crying. Don't they have a right to do what they want with their technology. Why not use all the alternative messsangers instead.
I'm not a gaim expert, but it seems to me that TiK works fine. (I know this because I'm using it at this moment.) I'm sure there's a way to fake it, but why bother when you don't need to?
I guess AOL wants it to be us versus them. Either you are with AOL, or opposed to AOL. You use the right OS, AOL only, and do what you are told, or you go to and burn in hell. Times like this makes me wish that the DOJ would look into one more particular company........
-------------------------------------------------
yes with ms who owns more than 80% of the os market. So you're telling me switching os'es is more feasable than using gaim. And that os'es are not as important as instant messaging. Yes I am following your logic well right now.
It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
..they are only going to hurt themselves.
This is just another reason not to use AOLs messager.
Use an alternative and encourage your friends to do the same. That's my advice.
-- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz
AOL IM can use two protocols, TOC and OSCAR. TOC is in the public domain, and it's specs can be viewed here: http://elysium.systemcrash.org/openim/toc.html OSCAR is proprietary. It is only the unauthorized OSCAR clients that are seeing this problem. Some newer versions of gAIM will allow you to choose which protocol you use. The TOC servers are notorious for crashing for days on end sometimes, so OSCAR may seem like the protocol of choice. Unfortunatley, the OSCAT protocol has yet to have been completely reverse engeneered. The Unofficial AIM/OCSAR Protocol Specs page can be viewed here: http://www.auk.cx/faim/protocol/
If your TOC-based AIM client can't send files to other AIM users, try sending them via industry-standard HTTP with an AIM addon called Apache Server. Now available for Windows 9x and NT.
<O
( \
XGNOME vs. KDE: the game!
Will I retire or break 10K?
Founder's Camp
Founder's Camp
News for non-Nerds. Stuff that matters.
(you got your grain of salt?)
Thats right, I just proved that class P is in fact equivalent to class NP! I will be famous and rich! Where is my insta-PhD?
Okay, here is the proof: Oh, wait, oops. Guess I should have verified that before posting huh? Maybe I'm just a little thick in the head.
I don't get it... AOL and Time Warner are trying to hook up, and realistically, they should be playing nice. I mean, couldn't this be seen as "Anticompetive"? AOL pretty much owns the IM market with IC and AIM, if they keep shutting out the community, and keep denying scoffing at standards, won't that look bad?
Of course, it's not like this will keep your friendly neighborhood hacker from releasing a patch to fix things...
IM is such a dumb-yet-cool technology; it's a shame that an open standard can't be used instead of companies purposely closing out others. I've used AIM, but I got so sick of the politicking that I dumped it (and then I dumped Wind0ze ;-)...
--
Spindletop Blackbird, the GNU/Linux Cube.
Who in the hell does AOL think they are? Granted, millions of people use AIM and their 3rd party counterparts everyday. But, is AOL making any money off of AIM aside from their stupid banners they put in AIM? Last time I checked, they weren't charging for AIM, so what are they losing out in by letting 3rd party versions in? Is it because of the "security issue" that they've played out, time and time again? I highly doubt it. I'm sorry, but AIM doesn't have anything fancy over any of the other clients for both win32 and *nix. This just comes on the heels of AOL jacking someone's domain, AOLBeta.com. You can find the story here on Geeknews. AOL is junk, plain and simple. Down with AOL!
Right here: http://slashdot.org/ article.pl?sid=00/09/11/146202&mode=nested
At the time AOL bought Mirabilis, ICQ had frequent system outages and lags, dropped connections, a website that was usually swamped and inaccessible during North American daytime hours, and a user search function that usually didn't work.
They were having some serious growing pains. They had also had a couple of rounds of financing to get them as far as they got. But I remember ICQ itself being very pokey in the months leading up to the sale, and its website being all but unusable.
I'm using 0.10.0, too, with no problems...
The problem with this is installed base of users that aol (specifically AIM) already has.
One strong point is that nomatter what aol does, there's always going to be someone in the opensource comunity to reverse engineer it and make a client that works.
PS Gaim v0.9.19 is still workin for me.
-K
AOLinux?
Is that a distro or a nightmare?
---
---
"Go Metallica. Die RIAA." -- Linus Torvalds
AOL is the *default* choice of internet provider for most people who buy computers these days. And they do a great job of making it so simple that most of their customers don't think there is any other way. Saying "AOL sucks. Get a real ISP." doesn't work. All I have to do is show an AOL user Outlook Express. While not the best e-mail client, it is far far better than AOL's e-mail. "You mean it automatically saves the messages on my computer? They don't get deleted after two weeks?" and so on.
Many many people have enough ability to use dial-up networking and configure Outlook or Eudora or whatever, and use ICQ. Once they see that life without AOL is actually better, they will switch. But it means you might have to take the time to educate someone a bit. Help them out. Once people with AOL feel "closed off" to their friends without it, there will be the demand from AOL's own customer base to implement access. They don't care about you on the outside. AOL doesn't win many customers from other ISP's, so you're not and never will be an AOL user. But they care about losing their existing customers. Once their users are ticked because their friends can't talk to them through IM, they will make AOL give in. AOL does listen to it's customers. They just don't listen to you. So make their customers do the work.
-------------
The truth is out th- oh, wait, here is is...
-------------
-------------
The truth is out th- oh, wait, here it is...
After scanning the messages in response to the report, it's all very, well "who cares" with few exceptions. No crying here, and no surprise either.
But you're right - as long as we keep trying to piggyback on corporate shoulders, we'll always get bucked sooner or later. Hit up Jabber for IM. Use Vorbis instead of MP3. Use Icecast instead of Shoutcast. While it wasn't true a little while ago, there are now quality alternatives to a lot of the stuff we get used to that don't carry the weight and consequances of corporate decision-making. I used AIM progs to communicate with a pal. Now he'll communicate with me using Jabber. Big deal. No loss, and big gain - as long as these companies keep doing what they're doing, the Open Souce alternatives are going to win and there will come a time when these corporate companies are going to be all alone with no one to harrass... So, hurray AOL. Thanks for giving me the motivation to use Free (as in Free Speach) alternatives to your pathetic services...
Mike
Greetings!
There's an alternative to avoid the banner ads: Use the Java version of AIM. That's what I use on all my boxes because it works great under *NIX, Windoze, and Mac.
Check the link out at: http://toc.oscar.aol.com/. You can use this client with your existing AIM account, or you can create a new one and skip the software download step.
Cheers!
Ehttp://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
AOL doesn't seem like the "bad guy" in this case to me. AIM allows people to send instant messages over AOL, which was previously a proprietary service provided to AOL members. It's their servers and internal software which you're relying upon for AIM to work. They can keep this supported by having their banner adds and "AOL 5.0 free!" adds (Like we don't get enough coasters and free disks with this on it already...).
I'm not trying to seem like an asshole here, but I doubt slashdot would appreciate it if someone came up with a way to mirror and allow posting of all their content without the banner adds to pay for the servers and bandwidth. (Yes, I'm aware one can simply use lynx, or turn off graphics, but the idea is still the same).
I personally love the AIM software. It allows you to communicate with AOL users cleanly and easily, and was what I needed to convince a family member to get off AOL and onto a generic local ISP.
AOL has provided this service to the public, which you would otherwise be paying $10/month for, for free. In return they request that you put up with some small banner adds. Doesn't seem like that big of a trade-off. And while I realize that the Linux version is still greatly lacking, it's understandable that they'd like to have money to support their expenses for the service that they're providing.
This kind of goes back to the discussion awhile ago on the EverQuest emulator. Verant spent the time, money, and effort, to develop their client and all the artwork, models, textures, and maps, with the intent that they would be used for their 10$/month game.
While I agree this issue is somewhat debatable, I don't think AOL deserves the bashing that it's going to recieve for this. THEY are the ones who are paying for this, not you.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
i'm using their official software under windows with no ads... just comment out all lines in "aim.odl" that say "load_ocm advert required"
You have it backwards. TOC still works, it is OSCAR which has been closed.
Abashed the Devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is
I, for one, wouldnt care which client I used, as long as it's both a) Usable and b) Lean on resources.
:)
Whether or not AOL can produce a peice of software that satisfies these requirements is completely different matter, but thats why OSS exists in the first place
-K
From AOL's Open IM announcement site:
America Online is committed to extending the benefits of instant messaging technology to as many consumers as possible.
This wouldn't annoy me so much if they didn't keep flip-flopping on their strategy. I suppose that since AIM won't make them any money, they're focusing on brand dilution issues instead.
--Pete
But, hell, if "we" beat the Worm back-in-the-day, I'm sure the hacks on these related clients can beat this.
use yahoo! messenger, anyway! there's even a linux binary!
Send your friends messages of love at fuck-you.org
Does the new one show ads? Thats the only reason that I can see that they would want to have people use it! Or perhaps an undefined "security risk". Right. Security through obscurity is not always a good idea.
What do I do, when it seems I relate to Judas more than You?
Still not dead.
Works for me Sep 11/2000 1606 GMT
Sorry if I implied that that was still an issue.
What I was trying to get towards by bringing such stuff up is that the ICQ protocol wasn't particularly well-thought-out upon release. The plaintext-password thing really concerns me a fair bit more.
Not that I have read their terms of service or anything, but do they state that it's illegal to use third-party software to access their sites?
On the other hand, I don't see how this differs from web-sites that only lets you display them if you use one particular broser. (And mind you, it's not just M$/Explorer I'm talking about - personally I think that it's just as bad blocking IE as it is to block NS..)
The question is, is it possible to differ between blocking from "technical" reasons (i.e. this page won't work in netscape so we won't show it to you at all) and blocking because of "liking" (we don't like IE, use netscape or nothing at all)? I guess this will be almost as difficult as it would be to make a law saying "You may hack as long as you have good ethical reasons and don't destroy anything"..
Love over Gold.
So use IRC. What's with those "messengers" anyway?
15F don't know enough to use IRC they have to use AOL chat.
Or so I've been told
heh-hehe
Now someone should make an AIM clone under the GPL, and make it popular. Just like Gnutella vs Napster...
-- "Almost everyone is an idiot. If you think I'm exaggerating, then you're one of them."
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I'm using a freshly updated GAIM 0.10.0 right now, no problems...
It's their infrastructure, they can decide who gets to use the service and who doesn't. That's the end of it! Linux users shouldn't expect to be able to use AOL Instant Messenger (or its infrastructure) until after AOL for Linux has been released. (AOLinux?)
Refrag
I have a website. It's about Macs.
13:48:05 AOL Instant Messenger: You have been disconnected from the AOL Instant Message Service (SM) for accessing the AOL network using unauthorized software. You can download a FREE, fully featured, and authorized client, here http://www.aol.com/aim/download2.html .
If you have only three friends, that's a good solution. But for the rest of us, there's too much inertia to fight.
-bugg
I'm using gaim 0.9.17 and everything's just fine. It's a shame everyone wants to jump all over AOL before actually researching the allegations. Open source or open mind?
Ok, so they won't allw the third party apps.... they have a version of AIM for LINUX AVAILABLE?!!!!h tml
http://www.aol.com/aim/Linuxbeta.
and even if you could not use that you could always (although i don't reccomend it) use the java version...
yes, it does suck that AOL is not letting third party vendors access it's database, but as a company they can do that. They can close there servers up.. IS it a good idea to not let your users communicate with the outside world? Yes and no... Realistically it ruins the online experience... But for the Service provider (and this is what AOL tries to do) it let's them try to CONTROL your experience.....
It's all targeted from the second you logon, they expose you more to what they WANT you to have.... think WALMART... Walmart's design idea is that you will go in, see something you need, see something that would go perfectly with it, and then see something that would complete the set.... Example.. you go in, buy a bigbird, then buy the video right next to it because it would be cool to give it to the kid so they could watch sessamee street together, and then you buy a shirt... it's all targeted marketing.... imagine what kind of targeted mareting could be done if someone could control your tv and your computer... (Think ROADRUNNER from time warner (houston.rr.com)) Time warner supplies cable tv and broadband to your house, they could then start sending ads to your aol account based on what you watch on TV, or they could commit a mortal sin, and display an add on EVERY SINGLE webpage you viewed.... Put it in their proxy server or something.... It's coming..... this marriage between AOL and TIME WARNER is a technically minded marketing persons wet dream...
Look for the TEKMOBL, the chevy with an onboard INTEL chip
[Something witty and intelligent should have appeared here.]
{Traicovn}
struct client_info_s info = {"AOL Instant Messenger (SM), version 4.1.2010/WIN32", 4, 30, 3141, "us",
"en", 0x0004, 0x0001, 0x055};
before everyone flames AOL, which is soooo late-90's to do... i don't know of a single person having any trouble with GAIM or Baim (a nice BitchX plugin which allows you to IM ppl from the comfort of gaudy ASCII color consoles).... besides, what can AOL do that IRC can't anyways... oh hell, we should all go back to using ytalk.
::looks at GAIM::
::looks at Slashdot article::
::looks at GAIM::
::signs off::
::signs on::
::looks at Slashdot article::
::looks at GAIM::
::receives message through AIM::
Err... is anyone here actually having problems? Anyone? Please speak up if so. (I am not having any trouble at all.)
For the record, I am connecting through TOC.
------
Corporations have a responsibility to the community. Maybe legally they're is nothing wrong, but it would be completely immoral. They would be hurting competition for the only purpose that they could monopolize the IM market and then take advantage of all the users by exploiting us. We are already locked into _their_ IM server. Do you want to be locked into AOL's software?, despite weither it is better?, but because it is the only one that is compatible?, and because AOL made it that way!! Do you really want to lose your ability to comfortably change software and strangle the progress of our IM technologies because AOL had a 'right' to do it because it was 'their' server. 2 words. Bull shit.
PS. For information on a open an free IM technology, look at www.jabber.org
To all the people who say its still working for them try turning on the experimental oscar support. If it doesn't crash in a few minutes you'll get an IM that says you are being disconnected. So far I haven't gotten anything in toc so maybe they are just blocking oscar.
-Stype
Bus error -- driver executed.
>This may suck for everyone in the short term,
>but alternatives will prevail if they stay
>closed.
Alternatives will prevail only if people stand up for what they beleive in. Progress doesn't happen by people sitting around.
It is TOC that still works, OSCAR does not.
Abashed the Devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is
www.everybuddy.org, if you need the client.
It was Judge Woodlock, in the US District Court for Massachusetts, with a gavel.
This only happens when a user logs in with GAIM via the OSCAR protocol. If you go back to the TiC/ToC protocol, it goes back to normal... Evidently AOL can only track their clients when they use the OSCAR protocol, perhaps the new ones use it exclusively and all the old ones use the TiC/ToC protocol?
...going to release a linux version of IMer any way? Maybe they just dont want people to use the non-aol ad free one....
When I saw the story I fired up the version of GAIM I got with Helix and created an acct. Seems I can chat with my friends...who shall remain friends in spite of the fact they use windows. =P
Seems like it is only half broken for alternative clients.
There were several issues going on with this, I suppose:
#1) The TOC version of gaim still functions fine
#2) AOL is blocking some clients AND we had a bug in our oscar code which triggered the block on us (only when using OSCAR). This has been fixed in the CVS version of our software. It can be obtained here:
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/gaim/
Hopefully this shall fix the broken bits. A new version should be out relatively soon fixing the problem. Adios :)
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Rob Flynn
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin