Microsoft just announced that today marks the first day that interoperability between its IM client and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice is available. Microsoft says this is the first time two distinct, global consumer brands have made their IM clients interoperable. The combined user base of nearly 350 million accounts is the world’s largest, the company says. IM interoperability took so long that I thought it was never going to happen.
Windows Live Messenger is the newest version of MSN Messenger. Yahoo! Messenger with Voice is the newest IM client from Yahoo!
The lack of interoperability across IM systems has long been a primary complaint from users. Services like Trillian for Windows or Adium for Mac have helped bridge the gaps between services, but at a loss of the unique interfaces and some features from one system or another that users may prefer.
Today’s news should make IM much more valuable for dedicated users of both systems. It’s good to see that though both companies have been working hard at developing value added interfaces for their own messaging services – they aren’t so afraid of losing customers that they pretend other IM clients don’t exist.
Hooray!!!!!
It’s about time! Now if only they would implement SIP.
How do I activate it?
The first step in a possible merger or aquisition?
Yahoo! Voice =/= Yahoo! Messenger with Voice.
That image is wrong I am afraid.
In the press release it says that Yahoo has a Mac client with interopability as well.
Sam, thanks image changed.
Freddy, yes on closer look it appears that things have changed since I looked at YIM for Mac just a few short weeks ago! Will yank the PC bit from post. Thanks.
“Microsoft says this is the first time two distinct, global consumer brands have made their IM clients interoperable.”
Doesn’t Apple’s iChat allow you to chat with people using AOL’s AIM? And has done so for years?
@ Diego Barros
No, iCHAT is like Trillian – which has been around a lot longer than iCHAT – but what MS is saying is two distinct IM brands have made their IM clients interoperable, not releasing some program that connects the two together bridging in effect…. with this there isnt a program to bridge the two together (like trillian and ichat) but it’s at the server side now.
I dunno, anyone using one of the Jabber networks (Jabber itself, Google Talk, probably numerous others) have had this for a long time already. Jabber has transports to connect Jabber users to other networks (ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, MSN, etc), and any of the many Jabber clients will work with them, along with native interoperability between the various networks that use XMPP (the protocol behind Jabber). If everyone would just move to XMPP-based systems, then all this surprise about networks becoming interoperable would be a thing of the past
“Doesn’t Apple’s iChat allow you to chat with people using AOL’s AIM? And has done so for years?”
iChat started out life as an AIM client. Bonjour (formerly Rendevous) and Jabber support has been added over the years, but you can’t bridge networks with the client.
Jabber/XMPP gateways also do not offer true IM interoperability. They are one way and require you to have an existing sign on with the other network you wish to participate on.
oh! Y! and Live don’t share contact lists
I’ll have to add each and every contact again to both of them.
Thank God I still know how to dial a Phone number…
great….
Surely what they really are is afraid of Skype.
I suspect they are haemorrhaging users to skype because of voice, and those users then also use skype for IM (I know I do). The only way they can shore up their current dominance is by providing voice interoperability, which exploits the network effects of their existing userbase.
As usual with incumbents, they only ever innovate for the benefit of their customers when forced to by new entrants to the market.
Good to start with – although I am not too sure why the two system cannot import the users from each other?
My review on the MS/Yahoo interoperability here..
nice intergration of the two
mobilesite
The move doesn’t impress me.
Give me jabber interoperability or at least an open standard, and then we’ll be talking. Till then, all they’ve done is make a larger user proprietary network to lock users in to.
Both Yahoo’ and Microsoft’s clients are bloated peices of crap – giving me a choice between one or the other is like giving me a choice between Democrat and Republican… I feel dirty no matter which way I go.
but no video available netween them
And now I have to apologise. Mike, please delete my previous two comments. it turns out you cannot add MSN contacts from the menu bar up top, but you can from the add button at the bottom. Poorly designed software causes such confusions. MSN and Yahoo! don’t suck, I take that back. They just don’t know how to write clean code.
Yes nothing amazing.
As some of you said, it has been working for a long time with software like trillian.
But better try WengoPhone (www.wengo.com), IM interoperability and soon (as they said within their opensource community) Voici & Video interoperability. This will be great, and they alos try to integrate interoperability with Skype.
I’ve been trying to use this over the past hour and it does not work. my MSN contacts are being added on my side, but they aren’t getting any notifications or anything. This is a dud.
I think its great that yahoo and msn messenger are designed with the intention of interacting and complementing with one another in IM services. Its also a global step in the right direction in making programs compatible with one another and more friendly for users who often have to switch between IM’s.
However, one wonders if this is yahoo’s way of competing with services that combine instant messenger services like meeboo. Nevertheless, I think its great to see companies collobarating with one another as apposed to competing for a market share. Also, yahoo and msn should also make sure that their own respective softwares are compatible with one another before they try to focus on compatibility between their competitors.
I wrote a brief blog on msn messenger’s future obstacles that I think will be informative. Please see my blog at your own free will: http://www.askd...live-messenger/
Perhaps now I’ll be able to talk to Y!IM people from Jabber through my WLM account. Perhaps not. I hope so. One thing though — while this is unique interoperability, it is not the first interoperability. Awhile back AOL bought Mirabilis and their wonderful ICQ software. AIM and ICQ are not interoperable. Yes, they’re the same company, but that still almost doubled their user base. Now if only one of the ‘big 4′ (Y!IM, AIM, WLM, ICQ) will federate with Jabber as well, THAT would be a story…
Dear God, the end is nigh. Run, run for the hills!
check out http://www.koolim.com