Instant Messaging Standard in Development

Microsoft has joined a coalition formed to promote interoperability among instant messaging (IM) offerings. IMUnified members—which include AT&T, Excite@Home, iCAST, MSN, Odigo, Phone.com, Prodigy, Tribal Voice, and Yahoo!—want to blunt AOL’s huge lead in instant messaging. AOL’s two IM services—AIM and ICQ—claim more than 100 million users, dwarfing any of the competing IM systems, including Microsoft’s MSN Messenger with 18 million users.

Instant messaging allows people to send text to one other in real time over the Internet. IM is expanding to include voice communications as well. To date, a lack of standards and inter-company cooperation have largely prevented users of one IM system from exchanging instant messages with users on other systems.

Many AOL competitors, including MSN, have attempted to allow users of their IM systems to exchange instant messages with AOL IM users. However, AOL has thwarted those attempts each time, citing security and privacy concerns. AOL claims that it will be able to provide interoperability in about a year, but competitors accuse AOL of dragging its feet.