molly.com
Monday 26 April 2004
IM software wars
In a reasonably interesting but inaccurate article off the AP newswire, Companies Launch War Over Web Messaging, Anick Jesdanun describes some of the intriguing competitive issues emerging from IM software such as AOL AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. Jesdanun’s got a few interesting quotes, I liked this one:
“Google would be smart to roll out an IM strategy and to do it fairly quickly”
– Paul Ritter, analyst for Yankee Group
One issue where Jesdanun failed miserably:
“Still missing, though, is a way for users of different services to reach one another directly . . . ”
Um, cello-o-o! There are quite a few successful software products that do this. For Windows, Trillian rocks mighty mighty, and on the Mac you’ve got Fire and then there’s the Jabber Foundation open source project – probably some other cross-platform stuff out there we might wish to inform Jesdanun about so next time ’round the coverage will be more accurate.
Filed under: software
Posted by: site admin | 03:44 | Comments (34)
Gaim
Hey Vitality – excellent addition to the list.
I went to your site – clean design, well-written posts, nice job, keep up the great work. And wow, how did you ever manage to get urbanwhore.com? That URL is awesome.
Interestingly enough, Yahoo has released a beta version of their Messenger client that includes a new look, new features, and an address book feature.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/beta/winbeta.php;_ylt=AgyPjTzr4GV8hHOKBdMtAmMN2sEF
One of the most notable new features is the built-in LaunchCast Radio service, which allows you to listen to streaming radio stations over the net, although you have to pay to get high quality streams, whereas you can get high quality streams for free either from http://www.shoutcast.com or using iTunes.
I agree with Molly, sweet site Vitality.
Actually, the author of the article has a point.
I use Trillian, and I like it quite a bit. But, in order to use it to reach all of my friends and family, I have to have an account registered with each service I am trying to connect to. I can not simply log in with my ICQ account which I have had for ages and use the program to send messages to contacts using AIM or MSN.
That is what I understand him to mean when he says “users of different services to reach one another directly”, not that there is one program or frontend that allows access to all of the numerous services, but that the service itself is unimportant. Jabber looks promising being a protocol in and of itself, but unless the major IM services start using the Jabber protocol in addition to or instead of the proprietary protocols they use now, it is unlikely to change the situation.
Just like there are web standards, there should be instant messenging standards. With that in mind, I vote Molly as the President of that project.
Jeremy, that’s an excellent point. But if that’s what the writer meant, he should have been far more clear in his language use. The implication is that there aren’t cross-platform solutions, not that there are but there’s an encumberance based on the proprietary nature of accounts.
One thing we didn’t mention is IRC, which of course is still the original universal chat format that is being built into some contemporary IM interfaces and can be used just like IM.
In fact, I believe we are seeing the re-emergence of IRC because of these very issues. Interesting!
For the Mac there is the wonderful Proteus, which – and that is a feature I totally love – is even more seamless than Trillian on Windows: It automatically messages a contact to the last account he used. I got a few people who constantly switch around contacts or even computers they own and I automatically message them at the last account they used to message me
It’s available at indigofield.com
yahoo messenger and MSN to merge – should be good stuff!
yea i’m looking forward to that!
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There is no question that we all can get along but not without our share of difficulties along the way. It would be better if graphic designers would learn the language but this isn’t often a job expectation and their salary certainly does not reflect the additional skillset. Programmers that I have had the experience to work with do not have the polished CSS skills necessary to take over what the designer intended from a PSD. CSS does require a great deal of time and experience and raw memorization to get a feel for all that you can do with it. So, who is the middle man in all of this? That’s the CSS consultant they hire in desperation nine months into the project to clean up the mess.
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