[Chachazz]

"It's not hyperbole to describe as historic Wednesday's announcement that Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. plan to partly link their respective consumer instant messaging (IM) services. However, it's unclear just how many concrete benefits the plan will yield for users.

Lack of interoperability in the consumer IM market has been for years a major inconvenience for users, forcing them to sign up to multiple services, each with its own interface. Some third-party applications lessen the problem but don't truly solve it.

As the first interoperability agreement among two of the three major consumer IM providers, Wednesday's Yahoo-Microsoft announcement is likely to be remembered as a turning point: the day when the era of consumer IM interoperability began.

"This is a significant step forward for consumer IM. When you look at the usefulness of IM, it's important to have that interoperability. Right now you have all these little islands of IM. Interoperability has been sorely lacking, and that tends to limit the usefulness of IM," said Michael Osterman, president of industry analysis company Osterman Research Inc."

InfoWorld»

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I think everyone is running scared of Google.

[admin]

I think everyone is running scared of Google.

[Pi rules]

I agree. Microsoft and Yahoo! are afraid that Google is dominating the Internet (searches, web-based e-mail, and now possibly IM). Google reminds me of Microsoft sometimes. They just keep adding more and more products and try to get nearly a monopoly on whatever market they set foot in. Microsoft is just scared, and they want to team up to help take down the giant. When you want to know something, you "Google" it, you don't "MSN" or "Yahoo!" it.

[FGM]

That is beacuse google rocks:D

[admin]

It won't be long before Google wields the same power as Microsoft, and faces many of the same criticisms. I think the honeymoon is almost over.