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AOL and .mac IM Not Entirely Integrated

Posted by pudge on from the one-more-reason-not-to-pay-for-.mac dept.

gsfprez writes "While chatting with some Apple employee friends (with .mac accounts and iChat), we were stumped why we couldn't see each other on AIM. It seems that AOL has decided to take the opportunity -- while integrating the .mac users 'into the fold' -- to modify their AIM protocols so that Open Source clients (like Fire and Trillian) can't see those with '@mac.com' IM accounts, and vise versa. Bottom line: you can't be seen by .mac IM users, and they can't see you, unless you get the crufty, single service AOL IM client. The only positive affirmation of this is from the Fire mailing list. 'Into the fold ... sorta' is more like it." Well, it's still early, this may merely be about bugs that need fixing, rather than intent to block .mac users. We'll see.

6 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. Older AIM didn't work either. by catwh0re · · Score: 3, Informative

    When I discovered that my friends were on iChat, I immediately downloaded AIM and registered, to my surprise the AIM download link that i was given pointed to a version that was not only out dated, but completely incompatible with .mac users. Selecting "upgrade" from the "My Aim" menu (and some time waiting for the download) i was presented with the ability to chat with my .mac friends.

  2. Re:Fire v. iChat by Erdinger · · Score: 5, Informative

    It isn't a matter of using iChat or not, it has to do with the .Mac address. You can use your AIM screen name in iChat and then there would be no problem.

    And yes, I am certain iChat allows you to use your AIM screen name.

  3. Re:Fire v. iChat by foobar104 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And yes, I am certain iChat allows you to use your AIM screen name.

    Not that it's necessary, but I'll second that. I've been using my old-as-the-hills AIM screen name with iChat for some time now to chat both with other iChat users (even over Rendezvous over AirPort, which is really cool) or AIM users on both platforms. Since I had an AIM screen name all along, it seemed unnecessary to use my .Mac user name.

  4. Why you can't see .macs by sammy.lost-angel.com · · Score: 4, Informative

    I believe (and I could be wrong) that the reason you don't see .mac people on these clients is because of the protocol they use (the old TOC one). Gaim uses oscar, and I believe you can see people just fine. It probably just hasn't trickled down through TOC, although AOL might choose just to ignore it.

    Anyone have any concrete information on this?

    1. Re:Why you can't see .macs by hoggy · · Score: 5, Informative

      I know that Apple specifically say in the help for iChat that AIM users may need to download a newer client in order to see and communicate with .Mac users.

      Certainly the old client I had (4.3) wouldn't even let you type in a .Mac screen name (didn't like the '@' or '.' characters), also iChat couldn't see me online with the old AIM client and couldn't send messages to me.

      Wouldn't surprise me if it's just a bug/version problem.

  5. Distributed IM service by bmetzler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This may finally allow AOL to license their servers to over companies and have their own @company.com clients that interoperate. Perhaps Microsoft needs to talk to AOL about licensing again. And Yahoo. and whoever else wants to offer a specialised IM client. I want my bmetzler@yahoo.com AIM ID. That'd be cool.

    -Brent