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AOL Opens Up the AIM Instant Messaging Network

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the horse-of-a-different-color dept.

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.'"

2 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

  2. Open, uninhibited access? by keytoe · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the Wired blog post:

    AOL's recently launched OpenAIM 2.0 provides open, uninhibited access
    From the Open AIM page:

    you must pick 2 of the 5 options listed below and incorporate them into your Developer Applications. These options include
    • Advertising
    • Buddy Info
    • Expressions and Buddy Icons
    • AIM Start Page
    • AIM Toolbar
    Just to be clear, these requirements don't apply to Plugins, Bots or the use of the Presence Indicators. Please note that if your application exceeds 100,000 peak simultaneous users, you must implement Advertising as described below as one of your two options.
    I think I have a different definition of 'open, uninhibited access' than Wired.
    --

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