Microsoft, Yahoo to Link IM Networks
By Nate Mook, BetaNews
October 11, 2005, 8:07 PM
JUST IN Microsoft and Yahoo are set to announce Wednesday a blockbuster interoperability deal that will reshape the landscape of the fragmented instant messaging market. The companies will connect their IM networks so users on each can communicate with one another using text and voice chat free of charge.
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I can honestly say that in a hundred years I didn't see anything like this happening. The rivalry between MSN and Yahoo is almost legendary. I suppose they'll both continue to compete with their separate IM clients.
Now that this is happening I wouldn't be surprised to see one or the other client go commercial. The most likely one being MSN Messenger. That would be a little sad though because it's a favorite for many people. Maybe a version will come out with stripped down features, but a paid version is a real possibility now.
It'll be interesting to see how they market this as well. Is Yahoo going to put big MSN logos on their website? Would MSN do the same for Yahoo? I can't see it. They're still rivals and mentioning one portal on another is bad business.
This is a strange development and it really makes me wonder about a lot of different things. How will the clients do it? I imagine we'll need to enter our Passport and Yahoo ID login information simultaneously to be able to send/receive data from both networks. The only other way possible is if Yahoo were to convert all of their accounts over to Passport. I'm not even sure if that's possible anymore though.
It'll be fun to see how this all plays out. There's not a whole lot of information about it available yet so it's probably still some ways away. I'll be ready and waiting so keep an eye out for more posts about this story in the near future.
Now that this is happening I wouldn't be surprised to see one or the other client go commercial. The most likely one being MSN Messenger. That would be a little sad though because it's a favorite for many people. Maybe a version will come out with stripped down features, but a paid version is a real possibility now.
It'll be interesting to see how they market this as well. Is Yahoo going to put big MSN logos on their website? Would MSN do the same for Yahoo? I can't see it. They're still rivals and mentioning one portal on another is bad business.
This is a strange development and it really makes me wonder about a lot of different things. How will the clients do it? I imagine we'll need to enter our Passport and Yahoo ID login information simultaneously to be able to send/receive data from both networks. The only other way possible is if Yahoo were to convert all of their accounts over to Passport. I'm not even sure if that's possible anymore though.
It'll be fun to see how this all plays out. There's not a whole lot of information about it available yet so it's probably still some ways away. I'll be ready and waiting so keep an eye out for more posts about this story in the near future.
1 comment:
Yeah Google Talk is nice. The article I got the information about this from cited AIM as the driving factor behind the merger.
I feel like there could be a little anxiety about Google Talk stepping into the fray as well though. Gmail has a lot of users and every one of them can run Google Talk or Jabber. We'll have to see how it goes, but I'm pretty sure Google will be stepping up their marketing for Google Talk when it comes out of beta.
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