AOL boosts third-party chat clients with Open AIM 2.0

Filed under: Developer, Utilities, Web services, Open Source, Social Software, AOL

AOL boosts third-party chat clients with Open AIM 2.0

by Jay Hathaway Mar 5th 2008

It's hard to get by with just one chat client these days. Your contacts aren't likely to be limited to a single service, like Google Talk, MSN Live or AIM, so a multi-chat client is a must. Now the multi-chat experience is about to get a lot better for AIM's 27.8 million users, with the launch of AOL's Open AIM 2.0 initiative.

Open AIM will aid the developers of clients like Meebo and eBuddy by releasing documentation for OSCAR, the protocol that the official AIM client uses to connect to the service. Open source libraries are now allowed to access the AIM network, and developers are free to create mobile or corporate versions of AIM to their heart's content, and AIM will now all kinds of widgets and plugins.

What does this mean for users? For one, some of the compatibility issues with third-party clients might finally go away -- file transfer is the one that's always been a sore spot for us. AOL is promising access to AIM's voice and video capabilities, too. Keep an eye out for updates to your favorite chat client, because the devs are likely working at full speed to add new features under Open AIM.

[Via TechCrunch]

Tags: AIM, AOL, chat, developer, meebo, Open AIM, OpenAim

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

T said 1:40PM on 3-05-2008

I don't think that this will change anything with the big third-party clients. A quick perusal of the Open AIM site shows this in the FAQ:

Are there any restrictions on what I can build?

We tried to make the Open AIM Program as restriction-free as possible, but in order to help protect our network and users, certain rules apply. In particular, developers are not permitted to build AIM Custom Clients that are interoperable with any other IM network.

Most of the big clients are multi-network, so they won't be able to use the libraries that AOL offers.

Jay Hathaway said 1:50PM on 3-05-2008

@T: I didn't notice that, but it's sort of interesting, considering that Meebo and eBuddy are AOL's launch partners for Open AIM. From the press release: "We're
giving developers unprecedented access to the AIM messaging network and the new freedom to build AIM into most anything they like, including third-party chat services (meebo & eBuddy have signed on as launch partners) and mobile, enterprise and international applications."

michael said 4:51PM on 3-05-2008

Couldn't help but notice that what's new to AIM has been on Live/MSN Messenger for years.

It's nice to see AOL finally catch up.

robotrock said 2:01PM on 3-06-2008

I think there's a bit of confusion as to just how big a deal this is.

One, AOL is no longer restricting developers from using it's SDK and API on multiheaded clients.

"Development of AIM-Enabled, Multi-IM Protocol Clients

* AOL now allows multiheaded clients to access the AIM network

"

Two, outside of GTalk, no IM service has such an open policy to using it's protocol. MSN and Yahoo are the ones who will need to "catch up."

jeff said 3:34PM on 3-17-2008

msn will never go open source in any way shape or form, as it is owned by microsoft. Maybe us linux users will get lucky and this will help speed the process of getting webcam up with any form of AIM.

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