[Air-l] Re: The death of chat?

Guillaume Latzko-Toth latzko-toth.guillaume at uqam.ca
Fri Sep 26 08:51:33 PDT 2003


I totally agree with Ben. What I wanted to point out is the ambiguity 
surrounding interoperability in the IM industry (MS, AOL Time Warner 
[non-interoperability even between their own systems: ICQ and AIM]). But we 
can see more and more "universal" IM clients (Odigo, Imici, Trillian) that 
interface with multiple protocols; I wonder though how they deal with the 
legal implications of this compatibility.

More on this topic: 
http://www.techtv.com/products/software/story/0,23008,3336529,00.html

Besides, I did not intend to reduce the debate to purely cynical business 
considerations. There are big, open questions about what is going on in 
chat "cities" and who should be "accountable"... This is part of my 
dissertation project.

Guillaume

> > From: Guillaume Latzko-Toth <latzko-toth.guillaume at uqam.ca>
>
> > Chat Messenger as a standard "de facto". Non-interoperability of instant
> > messaging services is the key of profitability.
>
>In which case nothing has been learnt from the SMS/texting fiasco. Here in
>Europe interoperability of SMS = a network externality effect = profit,
>snowballing externality effects = explosion in use = more profit.
>
>IM has some of the same properties EXCEPT users are not charged on a 'per
>IM' basis and there is little/no interoperability .
>
>Some room for innovation and strategic re-direction I think?
>
>--
>Dr Ben Anderson
>+44 (0)7710 187 806
>www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/people/ben_anderson.html
>
>
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