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AOL Tests Video Instant Messaging
An anonymous coward writes "AOL, which only last week asked the FCC to forget about some of those mandatory restrictions put into place in order to clear its merger with Time Warner, apparently isn't wasting any time. In a move that circumvents government-imposed limitations on "advanced" multimedia services, Instant Messaging Planet is reporting that AOL has already started beta testing video messaging services with "push-to-talk" and "record-and-forward" features."
If it has faster framerates and quality than Yahoo Messenger, I'm sold.
It seems most of the world uses AIM, though they stick with OTHER IM clients for their perks like videoconferencing.
Netmeeting and h323 video stuff is there from a lot of time but people still prefer using mirc or icq. I dont think most people is happy to show theit face (especially in the morning...).
When did AOL suddenly have the ability to forget what the FCC ruled?
Seriously, is the FCC a useless appendage to the government?
Look at how Radio has deteriorated in the last 20 years.
I still get interference between cordless phones, wireless videocameras, and 802.11 wireless.
Look at the way cursing is handled on tv.
Can anyone give me the name of a product that fits this criteria? Linux version?
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And a foothold among first adopters with fast connections and the telecoms will be sweating bullets. This is, after all, the killer app for communication.
Do any of these instant messaging systems/protocols support the exposure of a different online "status" to different groups of buddies?
For example, I use Messenger at work, and it would be useful to allow my colleagues to see me as "Online", whilst my friends outside of work see me as "Busy".
I think Buddy Groups would be easier than having to create a separate account (one for work and one for use with friends), and in particular if you have a large number of friends on IM you don't want to have to set your status to Busy for them individually.
Then at lunchtime, I can quickly set my "Friends" Buddy Group to show me as "Online"...
By using video cameras and incorporating it into the newly released AOL broadband, they are trying to apeal to a certain niche. I would think they would have studies to tell them that this is a horrible idea and it will not work becuase guys can't pretend to be girls and ugly girls can't pretend to be really hot. I'm sure I don't need to point out that short film - "The Parlor"
People just won't use it. Those that do and happen to be good looking will get so sick of people without webcam's spaming them with messages all day long they will just take it down.
SOrry AOL - not this time.
I'm a frequent user of AIM, ICQ, IRC, Yahoo IM, and MSN Messenger.
That being said, I used to use IRC all the time. I had a lot of friends there and it seemed like the place to be. Unfortunately, the packet kiddies have made it extrordinarily unreliable.
ICQ was the next place I frequented. Unfortunately, it's a haven for spammers. It's the only IM service I get spam from. It's pretty reliable, but most of the people that are relatively new to the internet don't have ICQ numbers. So it's not particularly useful anymore, although a few years ago, it too was the place to be.
I've used Yahoo IM, but unfortunately it seems rather pointless to me. I don't know why, I've just never been a fan of it. Yahoo's official client seems rather slow and I have problems connecting to the service rather often. I also find people I know just don't use it that much.
That brings me to the two I use a lot now, those being AIM and MSN Messenger.
I like AIM. I really do. Its client for Linux is rather lacking, but a lot of people have it. It doesn't seem as bloated as ICQ, but it still has a lot of features. And you can bet just about anyone online has an AIM SN. The service is rather reliable, too, I've found.
As for MSN Messenger, it's really become my favorite IM service. I know I'll probably get modded down for being pro-Microsoft, but it does everything I need it to do and aside from the few times it's gone down for maintainence, it's also rather reliable of late. I like it more than AIM just because it doesn't have the rather stupid features like warnings. I've never really understood that or the rate limiting feature. I mean, I know how they work but I don't get the point of them. I've never seen warnings used against obscene or harassing users. I only see them used when someone is mad at someone else and does it as a way to get back at them. MSN doesn't have these stupid features. That's why I like it. And most people I know have MSN Messenger, too.
As for Netmeeting, as an op in some teen channels, I see lots of requests to chat on Netmeeting. I get sick of seeing the requests. It's a home for perverts. Yahoo is turning into that, too. Video chats are nice, but with a low quality webcam and an upstream that just sucks (128 kbit) and lots of friends on dialup, it's rather pointless. And no amount of compression will make it much better without making the quality thoroughly suck. Forget it.
I'll still use AIM, but it's just another pointless feature I'll never use.
Ciryon
All they are attempting is a catch up with MSN messenger & yahoo. This doesnt look like a big money maker given the competition.
From my homework, I haven't seen anyone who is making money with IM, video or not. Its a net loss for everyone involved, except you and I as consumers. Frankly, I am not sure why they bother unless they think it is bringing in revenue in other areas. If I owned stock in MSN, Yahoo or AOL, I would prefer they get out of the IM business or develop a business model that allows for some kind of revenue stream.
Granted, Yahoo and others are looking into Enterprise service for businesses, but we currently use their free service for small messages in our office, and wouldn't really consider paying as long as the free serves our purposes. Hard to pay for what you can get free. Seems the market for this is pretty tiny, and if Yahoo DID come out with a viable Enterprise edition, I am sure someone would develop an OSS version of this enterprise product pretty fast. The overhead for an IM system with 100 users on a LOCAL network can't be very much, any old P100 should be able to serve it. Almost like a pretty GUI on top of unix TALK server.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
No, I'm serious I've been waiting for this. :-D
When I hear of video phones, once again I think of the Simpsons. Lisa's future, getting married, talking to Mom, who keeps crossing her fingers when she talks and Lisa has to keep reminding her that she can her, its a video phone. Harder to lie to the boss when you call in sick and he sees you with your sunglasses on, and baseball tickets in hand. oops!
I am not sure that I want people to see me in my natural habitat (underwear, no shower til 3), and more importantly, I am not sure they want to see me, anyway.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Earthlink was giving away free web-cams with a one year subscription a few years ago.
Only Earthlink could tell us how-well that went, for sure, but considering that they managed to aquire several other ISPs, and considering they're still around, I'd say it probably don't work out too bad for them.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.