Instant messaging has historically existed on closed and proprietary systems, using clients that can only connect to a single network, but last week's announcement that Meebo users would be allowed to
chat with their Facebook friends using the social network's popular Web-based IM service could be a sign that IM is finally starting to open up, says TechCrunch's Jason Kincaid. However, before a
paradigm shift is to take place, Yahoo and Microsoft, the largest remaining holdouts, have to follow suit, he says.
For years, users with multiple accounts would have to keep multiple
programs open to chat with their various contacts. In turn, this would slow down computers and clutter desktops. In the early 2000s, a slew of new clients emerged that allowed users to manage multiple
IM clients from a single platform. Incensed, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft all took steps to block such third party clients, but with limited success. Eventually, Kincaid says, the battle between
third-party IM clients and the network operators died down. Google entered the IM race with GTalk in 2006, then Facebook became popular and eventually launched an IM client of its own in 2007.
Now it seems that IM is trending towards a more integrated, open future, but Microsoft and Yahoo remain the major holdouts. "The two networks have teamed to let their users talk to each
other, but everyone else is out of luck," says Kincaid. Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg points to the parallels between IM and SMS messaging, which now sees over 2 trillion messages sent per year. It wasn't
until the carrier networks opened up that SMS became the norm, spurring incredible growth and widespread innovation. IM, he says, is also ripe for innovation, but it needs support from the major IM
networks.
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