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AIM Now (Mostly) Open To Developers
gregsblog writes "Today is a historic day at AOL as we announced a software development kit for AOL Instant Messenger. Open AIM will empower you, as the developer, to write custom clients and plugins.
For now, lets concentrate on the Open AIM SDK and get into what it can do for you. First, the development kit is written using COM, so plugins and custom clients can be written for Windows in languages like C++, VB, C#, and eventually J-Script. In the near future we will have solutions for LINUX, MAC and Windows Mobile devices. Why is this important? We now have a solution to provide all AIM users and consumers to build their own IM clients and to extend the features of Triton via plugins. Of course all of this is free of charge. How do I get started? Well my team has provided a quick start guide, and tutorials, in addition to numerous coding examples, from the simple to the complex. Our examples are in C++ and C#.
What are the limitations? Basically anything goes, with the exception of writing multi-headed clients."
... I mean, we've only been using Gaim for about five years now...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
I can interface with it on the hardware level? Cool...
Fleur de Sel
Maybe there's no step 3 in regards to instant messaging. With Jabber being open and being used more and more (Google Talk is a Jabber account), with tools such as Gaim (heck, even with iChat you can connect to all IM protocols), I fail to see how any corp could be making money out of instant messaging protocols...
Animoog.org
"Developers are not permitted to build Custom Clients that are multi-headed or interoperable with any other IM network."
The definition of "almost, but not quite totally useless" seems more appropriate.
-Charles
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
From the Gaim Wikipedia article:
Recently, the Gaim developers have started to separate the core code--which handles things such as network connections and messaging--from the GUI code, which controls how these actions are presented to the user. After the code split is complete, it will be possible to write client programs using a developer's GUI library of choice. The core library produced by the split will be called libgaim; an in-development but stable version of this library is already in use in the Adium, Fire, and Proteus clients as well as the Meebo web-based application.
So, in other words, AOL are going to have something much more limited than libgaim (AIM protocol only) available in the "near future"? Uhhh... congratulations AOL! Now bugger off, you jerk-burgers!
Verboten? Then I will nicht use it on meinen boxen.
I think a more appropriate cerification would be the AIM Registered Systems Engineer.
May the Maths Be with you!
Linux Is Not UniX
Don't quote me on this.
From AIM's FAQ:
Q: Are there any restrictions on what I can build?
A: We tried to make the Open AIM Program as restriction-free as possible, but in order to help protect our network and users, certain rules apply. We have highlighted some below, but please refer to the Developers License Agreement for details.
* Developers are not permitted to build Custom Clients that are multi-headed or interoperable with any other IM network.
* Custom Clients developed for use on a mobile device or via a wireless telecommunications carrier's network and/or wireless services require separate licensing and business agreements with AOL. Any inquiries regarding mobile applications should be sent to AIMCommercial@aol.com.
* Custom Clients designed for sale to a corporate customer base or to serve a corporate employee base require separate licensing and business agreements with AOL. Any inquiries regarding enterprise use should be sent to AIMCommercial@aol.com.