Both Skype and Google are talking about open IM (Instant Messaging). That means that eventually we’ll have some standard way to communicate with contacts on any of the various messaging platforms like ICQ, AIM, GT (Google Talk, which came out today), Jabber, Yahoo, MSN, etc. GoogleTalk itself runs on Jabber. I’m curious what will happen to the Hello messaging system they purchased with Picasa. Anyway, here’s what both Skype and Google have planned:
Hearsay courtesy of DownloadSquad on Google’s plans for GoogleTalk
According to our friends at Google, there’s a lot in store for Google Talk. Google is keenly interested in keeping the protocol open, and in fact you can access Google Talk’s servers with any Jabber-compatible client like Trillian, Gaim, Adium X, and iChat. (If you have one of these, I’m told you can connect using server talk.google.com and port 5222.) Google tells us that SIP support is coming soon and are in talks with Skype, AOL, and Yahoo! concerning interoperability.
I wonder how AOL and Yahoo feel about interoperability.
Skype is opening up its messaging with “SkypeNet API“. They have less to lose here than chat-focused products like AIM since Skype text chat is not the main benefit to Skype users who can use SkypeOut to place telephone calls worldwide.
Wouldn’t it be cool if your friends using other IM applications could contact you on Skype? We want Skype to be the worlds largest open IM system on the planet! What if you could use Skype to communicate with a product reviewer on a Web site, to chat with other players in an online game using Skype? All of these things and a few more that we haven’t dreamed up yet will become possiblities with SkypeNet API, a new set of tools and services that programmers can use to take Skype into new places that you may have never dreamed of before.
SkypeNet API will enable developers to access our IM and Presence system and bring it into new applications without needing to have the full version of Skype running on the machine. Think of it as mini Skype that can bring Skype to new places and let you do things you couldn’t do before. Details on the SkypeNet API will be coming soon, but we want to start the fun now. Interested in getting on board with SkypeNet now and just can’t wait until we publish more?