IM Interoperability matrix

 

(A translation of this page into Serbo-Croatian can be found here.)

 

Today (as I wrote back in 2006), the instant messenger world is about where the email world was in the early 1990s. For those of you not around then, MCIMail became one of the first private email companies to connect to the Internet  and offer the means to bridge incompatible systems. Then the flood started, and eventually the TCP/IP and POP worlds became the default and no one cared about proprietary systems.

 

Now Vint Cerf is with Google, and MCIMail (his former home and pet project) is largely forgotten. With the advent of Jabber-based XMPP messaging systems (here is a complete list), and with the work of Apple, IBM, and others, we are now seeing software that can connect multiple IM systems, although it still is pretty crude.  The issue is more than just the protocol, you need federated identity between disparate systems to make this all work. All of this is part of the general trend towards IM becoming more corporate, and replacing email and voice mail as the primary way businesses communicate.

 

You can read more about business use of IM in an article that I wrote for the New York Times here (registration may be required). Now, the generation of office workers that grew up with IM has gained control. IM has become the new black, the latest trend to take over IT. And in the process, IM is remaking how the corporate world converses and serving as the basis for a new series of communication applications. I look at the reasons for IMÍs popularity and its future in the enterprise, along with some examples of what people are using it for besides text chats. Since that article appeared, I have continued to write others about IM for a variety of publications. Check out my blog for the most current links to them.

 

Before we discuss interoperability, I should mention the few products that are available that run multiple IM connections. This isn't quite interop, but does allow you to connect to multiple networks. Not all the features of all the single-purpose clients are supported, so if you do a lot of file transfer, voice chats, group conversations or video chats, you probably are better off using something else. The ones that I recommend include:

I had trouble getting my Google Talk connected to Gizmo, until I fiddled with Norton's Internet Security firewall settings (it initially worked in one direction.) As another example, versions of these clients matter. If you are running earlier versions of Apple's OS X than Tiger (10.4.x), you can only use the built-in iChat client to connect to AOL IM, not the Jabber systems that are supported with the later version. You'll also need Trillian Pro, the fee-based software, rather than the free version if you want to use its Jabber support.

 

And while Google Talk offers a Jabber-based system, it has done some things not quite to spec, so complete interoperability isn't easy across all systems. Luckily, there is some documentation provided.

 

I looked at five products that are available on Windows clients, along with Apple's iChat. Eventually, I will add more to this grid, but this should whet your appetite for what you can do. Three of the Windows products are also available on other platforms. All do basic chat or text messages from person to person. Some offer audio and video conferencing features, whereby you can connect multiple people on the same line. Two offer the built-in ability to record your text chats and also record your audio conversations, which are useful for assembling podcasts. And two also offer voicemail systems, so when you are away from your computer you can still receive audio messages.

 

Just as we were with email in the early 1990s, there are three commercial IM systems that don't really connect with each other: AOL, Yahoo, and Microsoft. Then Trillian came along a few years ago and produced a single client that allowed you to chat with all three, along with ICQ. Then came Skype, which set things back as its own communications island, but moved chat into a features war with lots of enhancements, including voice conferencing and dial in/dial out features. And now we have all the jabbering Jabber clients, including Gizmo Project, which takes most of Skype's features a step further but is notably missing file transfer.

 

There is some hope with Microsoft's Live Communications Server, their enterprise class IM solution. For an extra $1 per month per user above the cost of LCS, you can install their Public IM Connectivity -- this is a module that will connect your corporate LCS IM client with the public AOL, Yahoo and MSN networks and give you full interoperability.

 

If you follow IM doings and want to dive deeper, I suggest Jeff Hester's BigBlueBall.com. There are discussion forums, news, and tips.

 

One other note: in our interop table, we are talking just the ability to exchange text messages. Most of the audio/video features are not supported across systems outside the Jabber universe, and you can't maintain the group buddy structure across different systems, although the latest version of Trillian Pro has done the best here.

 

If you have comments, corrections, or suggestions, I am davidstrom on most of these systems. 

 

Features table

 

Product

Non-Win Platforms

File transfer

A/V multi-party conferencing

Audio /Chat Recording

Voice Mail

AIM

Mac, Web

Yes

No

No

No

Trililan Pro

No

Yes

No

Yes /yes

No

Skype

Mac, Linux

Yes

<5 audio

No /yes

Extra cost

Gizmo

Mac, Linux

No

Unlimited audio

Yes / Yes

Free

Google Talk

No

No

No

No

No

iChat

Mac OS, no Win

Yes

<10 audio, <4 video

No / No

No

 

Interoperability table

 

From/To

AIM

Trillian Pro

Skype

Gizmo

Google Talk

iChat

AIM

Y

Y

N

N

Y (E)

Y

Trillian Pro

Y

Y

Y  (D)

Y

(A)

Y

Skype

N

Y (D)

Y

N

N

N

Gizmo

N

Y

N

Y

(C)

V3 only

Google Talk

Y (E)

(A)

N

(C)

Y

V3 only (B)

iChat

Y

Y

N

V3 only

V3 only (B)

Y

 

Notes and clarifications:

 

You'll need Trillian Pro, not Basic, and iChat AV v3 that comes with Tiger, not earlier versions, to get their Jabber/XMPP functionality.

 

(A) Setting up Trillian Pro and Google Talk:

http://www.google.com/support/talk/bin/answer.py?answer=24077&topic=1415

 

(B) Setting up iChat for Google

http://www.google.com/support/talk/bin/answer.py?answer=24076

 

(C) Setting up Gizmo for Google:

http://www.gizmoproject.com/google-talk.html

 

(D) Skype/Trillian Pro

http://skyllian.fmdm.org/mxBB-Portal/index.php

There is a plug-in for Trillian that will support some Skype features called SkyLlian. But you still need to run Skype on that computer for it to work.

 

(E) AIM (and MSN and Yahoo) and Google Talk:

http://www.bigblueball.com/forums/google-talk-news/33739-connect-google-talk-aim-msn-yahoo.html

There is a hack to get from Google to these other IM systems, but it involves using the Jabber client psi and some clever manipulation of the federated networks. The link above has the details.

 

David Strom

Page last updated 11 August 2006