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AOL vs. Trillian

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the talk-is-cheap dept.

Trinition writes: "ZDNews is reporting that AOL is once again trying to shut out the competition. Trillian has been updated twice in the past 24 hours to work around the blocks AOL is throwing up to prevent the popular IM client from interoperating with the AOL Instant Messenger service. Will Cerulean Studios hold up better than those they follow in the footsteps of (i.e. Microsoft, AT&T and Jabber)?"

5 of 583 comments (clear)

  1. Why the moaning? by TheCabal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's AOL's software, AOL's servers and AOL's IM protocol. Why should they feel compelled to allow 3rd party software to access their network?

    1. Re:Why the moaning? by Trinition · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because if AOL rejected email, none of their users would stick around, would they?

      This is exactly my point. AOL doesn't have a monopoly on e-mail users, so they allow interoperability. Its adds value to their service, so their users have good reason to stick around.

      If AOL *didn't* have a monopoly on IM users, they would have their own service interoperating with the monopolistic ones (provided those hypotheitical monopolists would permit it). But AOL *does* have a monopoly on IM users (AIM and ICQ combined are HUGE), so they're going to be stubborn and lock out the competition.

      Maybe not in the legal dictionary, but in my dictionary, this is *anti-competitive* and I want to see something done about it. I just hope someone with more legal knowledge than I can find the proper legal support to put this fight upon.

  2. As a Trillian and AIM user... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I must say that AIM is the best thing that AOL produces. (Not counting Winamp/ICQ as those are merely apps that they bought and haven't "AOL-ized" too much.) But some people I know are on AIM, Yahoo, and even ICQ. I tried out Trillian and now I'm loving being able to only run one IM client. (Plus it'll check for new Yahoo e-mail while I'm chatting with an AIM buddy.)

    Back in July there was a story about AOL saying they were working on letting AIM access other messaging clients. I guess it's ok for AIM to access Yahoo/MS/etc buddy lists but it's not ok for another app to access the AIM servers. Nice double standard there AOL. (Apparently they want Open Standards for Instant Messaging to apply to everyone but them.)

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  3. Re:Only Trillian v0.7x affected? by sql*kitten · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Trillian is a very nice client - we use it almost exclusively here at work, as it lets us keep in contact with people using multiple IM platforms, and also doesn't ram ads down our throats.

    Those ads are what pay for the servers, the infrastructure, the maintenance and enhancement of the software, etc. If you are using the service without the ads, you're getting a free ride on all the people who do use the service as intended.

    Why do you think TiVo doesn't let you completely strip away ads and watch programmes seamlessly? Because without ad revenue there are no programmes, at least not on non-PPV channels. The TV companies know this, and the enlightened consumer knows it too.

    IMHO, this is all about a minority of users wanting free beer, and dressing it up in free speech rhetoric. Don't forget that ICQ was a small company once... if you really need IM functionality and don't want to use a commercial service... implement your own for internal use.

  4. The IM world is a damn mess... by weave · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This is a perfect example why open standards and RFCs have stopped this mess from occuring in other areas.

    Imagine incompatible e-mail clients, online services, DNS, news, etc...

    Instant Messaging should be decentralized. This is what happens when commercial interests drive communication "standards" over the net.

    Remember pre-popular-internet when mail programs wouldn't talk to each other? Exchange, cc:mail, lotus notes, and a host of others? Remember early online services that didn't permit access to content outside their worlds? MSN, AOL, Compuserve, Genie, etc...?

    There should be an RFC, each ISP or provider should host their own IM server, their customers connect to it using the client of their choice, and outsiders send messages in for instant delivery based on a standard naming convention.

    But we'll never get there now, it's too late. I'm just thankful the rest of the net isn't in this mess.