Instant Messenger Competition


With both Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger releasing the final version of their newest messengers today/tonight, one will be reminded of the news about the interoperability of the two messengers. With WLMessenger and YM both version 8, and both going to be released at the same time and date, we can clearly see that there is an active communication between both teams.

Follow up:

But sadly, rumors has it that the interoperability of the two messengers are delayed and no new target date was given. Whether it is true or not, we will soon see WLMessenger-YM version 9, the new messengers that will give AIM (AOL Messenger) and ICQ (I-seek-you, first instant messenger) a stiff competitor and they might lost a portion of their customers. They themselves (AIM and ICQ) have delayed for years already the interoperability of AIM and ICQ, which personally, they should have done after AOL acquired Mirabilis, the developers of the first Instant Messenger we know as ICQ.

How about Google’s messenger – GoogleTalk? Personally, I right now, I don’t think they are going to be left behind in this race for dominance in the instant messenger space. One major reason I see is gTalk is based on Jabber and Jabber already have a huge user-base. The only problem I see is infiltration in countries where Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) and Yahoo! Messenger are the dominant applications, example in Korea where MSN Messenger is the choice and here in the Philippines where Yahoo! Messenger is the choice.

I’ll say, Google get involve more into the fight to have an IM interoperability, which Jabber and their users (like me) are avid supporters of.

Let’s not forget Trillian here, the first to take on the fight for interoperability, they are currently developing and testing their next major version.

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