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AOL Opens Up the AIM Instant Messaging Network
AVIDJockey writes "In a pleasantly surprising move, AOL has changed its tune when it comes to third-party access to the company's chat network. America Online has recently launched a service called OpenAIM 2.0, which provides open, uninhibited access to services like Meebo, or all-in-one IM clients like Pidgin, allowing them to freely and easily use the AIM instant messaging network. 'At the moment, multi-platform IM desktop clients like Pidgin or Adium (the popular Mac client) generally rely on hacking and reverse engineering access to chat networks run by AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft and others. Not only is that bad for developers since it means more work, it also means that such clients often can't use all the features of a particular network.'"
This is good for business!
... well, if something is more useful, it will be more used! (in theory, anyways)
;)
Companies think that lock-in is good for business. And sure, it IS when you're dealing with tangible goods. But when dealing with interoperability concerns with software
At least AOL finally figured this out. I'm waiting for microsoft and apple (for all their software) to get a clue
I'm guessing I'll be modded down for saying this, but this seems more like they're trying to remain relevant by hopping on the "Open" bandwagon a little too late in the game. XMPP was the response to the closed nature of all of these IM networks, and not surprisingly, Google chose that very protocol for Google Talk. They even provided instructions on how to connect using clients _other_ than Google Talk.
AOL, on the other hand has always been quite hostile toward projects that made use of their network (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madster). Why would anyone want to develop for them now, just because they've stuck "Open" on AIM hoping that OSS developers take care of their coding for them?
They are desperate to not lose any more market share to Yahoo, MSN and Google Talk (among others). Hopefully this will keep pressure on the others to open up their networks (except MSN of course) and embrace the fact that having many clients is too much hassle for people and all-in-ones make more sense
As a Pidgin user I welcome this move.
Make SELinux enforcing again!
Well, considering libpurple (Pidgin, Adium, and Meebo) has a user base somewhere around a fuckton, they'd have to put the ads in if they wanted to used the "blessed" protocol
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
AOL still has a butt load of clueless subscribers, and AIM is the only IM they know anything about....
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
They can't force a client to display ads. They can request it, and a client can even pretend to do so, but there's no way they can force a third party to display ads they don't want to.
I've never gotten a message from their own AIM bots, and in Kopete, as in every single other IM client I've used, it's possible to simply collapse groups (and forget about them).
So what, exactly, is the problem? (Or is there something I'm missing?)
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Culture is more than commerce
Why not have clients that can mesh with each other in a lily-pad? Not everything has to be client-server.
The only thing 2 computers need to talk to each other is the ip address and the port. Give that to them, and you can then drop out of the conversation. Its not like you need to relay the contents of the messages as well.
Kopete is often overlooked because it's tightly integrated into KDE, but much less so than Windows Live Messenger is tied to Windows, so it deserves mention as a very complete MSN/WinLive client.
Sam ty sig.
Uh, I'm pretty sure they can force you to stop distribution of your application if you link against their library and aren't following their restrictions. It would be violating the license, and is just as bad as someone linking GPL code into their proprietary applications.
Phil