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Yahoo and Microsoft to Merge Instant Messengers
Primotech writes "Betanews has word that Microsoft and Yahoo plan to link their respective IM clients again so that users of both can communicate with each other on one, shared network. Facing threats from third-party applications, like Trillian and Skype, the two tech giants will claim 44% of the instant messaging market, analysts predict. They will also go head to head together with the biggest competitor, AOL."
Trillian isn't its own protocol, of course. This is what is somewhat odd about the article: it can't decide whether it's talking about the networks (MSN and YIM combining protocols and having interoperability) or whether they're jointly developing a multi-protocol client (like Trillian, although Trillian does a lot more than just those two).
More than Trillian, Skype and others, i bet that they are more against their common foe, Google/Gmail/GTalk/etc. Maybe against each separate component they can have a chance, but when you start to combine them the potential for growing and taking away their markets is probably too big.
There isn't much money to be made in instant messengers. Maybe a little revenue from advertising in the window corners, maybe a few bucks from premium games, but in all it's mostly a net loss. And you also have the problem that your users may be drawn away from your IM client to another one because of an established group of friends with the other one.
Bringing these two IM clients into compatibility isn't a way to make a stronger IM network, but rather to eliminate the drain that both companies must be feeling. It also helps that it marginalizes AIM and its premium services, which benefits both Yahoo and Microsoft.
I always thought Microsoft would get around to doing this one day. It just seemed the logical next step. Hopefully their next next step will be the ability to have different statuses for specific people in your contact list, and be able to contact people even though you appear offline. Back in the day (get off my lawn, you crazy kids) ICQ had this feature, but since ICQ has been dragged down into a hole by AOL, it's been on my IM wishlist.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
This is gonna put alot of pressure on Google and Jabber. I mean Google just entered the market, with MSN and Yahoo and Possibly AIM, there wont be a need for a new contender. I dont think its bad coz that will bring more ppl close together and save installed 100s of IM apps just to talk to all your friends. I do wonder how they will connect them all and whether you will use screennames or e-mail address or whatever.
Nope, this is a tactical move. They are going probably planning to buy Yahoo.
In big business, the only way to compete against whomever is in #1, is to aquire #2.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
make this type of stuff completely irrelevent for techies anyway.
;-)
I own a copy of Trillian 3.1 Pro and I can say that it's the best thing since sliced bread
its all Transparent to me cause i use Gaim
But, it's not.
Going to Yahoo!, creating an account, dealing with their spam emails and offers all the time in the future and then logging into Yahoo! with that special Yahoo! account is not transparent whatsoever. And not enough people use Yahoo! to justify creating a special account just to talk to them.
Yahoo! probably realized this and gave up the ship.
Is that the _domestic_ market?
Since what I see here in China, who has the second largest internet user population in the world after the USA, the vast majority uses QQ, which is basically ICQ adapted to a full-fledged Chinese client (all Western IMs have questionable language support and transparency).
If they tried, too few would stay on their side of the divide. Microsoft is too predatory this way; looks like a coy maneuver to get Yahoo out of the way of MSN messenger. Maybe Yahoo thought that their messanger was doomed anyway and Redmond made it worth their while?
...without a monopoly?
-1 The End of Yahoo as we Know It
I happen to think that Yahoo! is doing some amazing, cool stuff - cool enough to be a major Google competitor. I like it that way, because in my opinion, neither company has a definitive edge, and they keep trying to out-innovate each other because of it. That's an incredibly good thing.
Yahoo! was the first Google - the site that strived to sort the web so mere mortals could get around. I first used it when it was http://akebono.stanford.edu/. The day it gets bought by Microsoft will be a sad day, indeed.
Thank God that they don't abuse that power.
Oh ye of too much faith. Google is a company. Wait till their share price starts dropping and then we'll see if we thank them for not abusing their power.
Interesting... you make up a plan for Microsoft, with little basis in fact, then start predicting legal action based on said plan. Is step 4 profit?
Microsoft is not going to buy Yahoo. They have plenty invested in MSN and Microsoft Search as it is. Buying Yahoo invalidates all the money spent so far, and gains them not very much. IM is A component of a successful internet strategy, but it's nowhere near the key component.
Slashdot needs a "-1, Wrong" moderation option.
The Urban Hippie
"You" meaning the "user", or "you" meaning "him" specifically? I'm personally a "user", not a programmer, and I have no ability to contribute to Open Source software. However, when Open Source software is advertised to the masses the way GAIM is, I would like to use it. Just because it's open source, does that mean I waive any right to complain about lack of features or to request features for someone else to include? Are there no users of open source software and only developers?
GAIM has a ton of features (more than the official clients), but it lacks some of those features which many of us find necessary or, at the very least, useful. Webcam support is one of them.
UNIX: A computer user is defined as a programmer. WINDOWS: A computer user is defined as a consumer.
Please explain:
-Why Yahoo's search "sucks". Please give examples of a specific Google search outperforming Yahoo.
-Why Google maps won't print right.
-Why Yahoo has traffic on their maps when Google apparently invents every new feature on the Internet.
Vote Libertarian
I wonder what they'll do about user IDs for transporting between the two services. What I mean is, from MSN's side, you want to add a Yahoo user, say he's called "Bob" on Yahoo.
Maybe they'll let you add him just as "Bob" on MSN, which would be a significant problem for MSN because they assume that all IDs are emails for various purposes.
They can't let you add him as "bob@yahoo.com", because Bob might actually be using that Yahoo email address as his username on MSN.
Maybe they'll have to go about it to the extreme and add to both the IDs. So you would add Bob as "bob@Yahoo", but you would add your fellow MSN contact as "jane@example.com@MSN".
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
and MSN Search
Really Was the google killer
it isnt unforseeable that MS may decide to purchase Yahoo
MS whats the public to believe that MS knows how the internet should be
and yahoo is many peoples favourite Entertainment hub
Games, music, search, IM, email and streaming media.
Yahoo has what people want from the internet.
It will be interesting to see how this one turns out...
Not to mention the rumors that Microsoft is buying AOL. Suddenly Microsoft will basically own the IM market?
Clever signature text goes here.
I could care less as well...
But 99% of my friends would trash Gaim as soon as they opened it.
It's missing the features that makes msn messenger special, all those neat winks, backgrounds, packages and more. It's what makes it fun for them.
I understand Gaim will soon have video but that was a requirement more than a year ago, messengers have continued advancing and now there is much more catchup to do.
Not XMPP, but good enough for me
XMPP is documented. MSN and Yahoo's protocols aren't. A single IM protocol shared among the big players doesn't help people like me out who don't use the official chat clients. Don't settle for less.
Yes, because they are idiots.
Seriously, just because a bunch of people do something, doesn't make it acceptable or even defensible if you want to be taken seriously.
Any of the examples that you mentioned would be unacceptable for an 8th grader; any adult who uses them ought to be subject to whatever amount of public ridicule is required to keep them from doing it again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."