IP: AIMSTER MAY END IM INTEROPERABILITY DEBATE: Edupage, December 20, 2000

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>A new version of the file-sharing program Aimster is expected to
>debut this week, making America Online's instant messaging
>service interoperable with other such services. AOL has blocked
>its rivals from making their instant messaging systems compatible
>with its own systems in the past, and the FCC is considering
>forcing AOL to open its AIM and ICQ services as a condition for
>approval of its merger with Time Warner. However, interoperability
>might become a moot issue with the new version of Aimster, which
>makes it possible to send files among AIM and other services such
>as Microsoft's MSN Instant Messenger and Yahoo!'s Instant Messenger.
>"The FCC hasn't asked us to testify, but if they did we would say
>that AOL is interoperable now and has been for months," says a
>spokesperson for the programming group that created Aimster. AOL
>will be unable to block Aimster because Aimster relies on Aimster
>switches and does not use AOL's servers, the spokesperson says.
>(InfoWorld.com, 19 December 2000)



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