Comments on: Yahoo, Microsoft join IM hands

Companies to allow interoperability of their instant-messaging clients in a move against America Online and Google.

Ahhh Crud....

...If they keep this up who will we have to pick on?

After thinking about recent news about Microsoft I've come to the conclusion that Microsoft is losing their touch for being evil and I can see other companies taking the evil crown away from them. It was a good run but I guess all good er... evil things come to an end sometime.

All of this lawsuit settlement, blogging, and industry cooperation is starting to damage the evil image they worked so hard on achieving and is turning them into a big loveable software giant again.

They will have to really turn on the jets if they expect to prevent Apple or Google from stealing their crown of evil.

Don't worry

Don't worry, Google will never take the crown of evildom from Microsoft... whether Apple will or already has is up for debate. One factor that will help Microsoft maintain it's evil image however is the fact that they ARE settling lawsuits... which isn't really what we want. The more companies they settle with on the smaller issues, the fewer will oppose them on the important stuff. You've noticed whenever they settle with a company, that company is required to withdraw from all the other lawsuits filed against Microsoft? Add in the fact that settling isn't an admission of guilt, nor does it bring these issues before the court system to establish some ground rules, and you can see that settling is actually the most evil thing Microsoft can do at this point.

[TV James]

Nah, still evil

Nope, they're still evil. They're just trying to be more "evil genius" and less "evil bastard." Plus, harder to sue someone who you have a strategic partnership with, especially if they're bigger than you and giving you money or technical expertise. (Microsoft Office on the Mac?)

They're just realizing that if they con others into helping them crush their opponents, they'll just look less evil.

Microsoft + Yahoo! - Google? Yahoo?
Microsoft + AOL - Google? Yahoo? AOL itself?
Microsoft + Real - Apple
Microsoft + Apple - Sun
Microsoft + Sun - IBM? Macrodobe?

Who really benefits in all these pairings?

what about google talk

what a pathetic attempt at such a great market for Google. In the end it will all be available from any service, so they better concentrate on making things sticky.

slopmarketing.blogspot.com

[Montevale]

Someone had to start this eventually

With so many different IMs on the market it was just a matter of time before someone tried to get this hodgepodge of services somewhat together.
This has nothing to do with being more or less evil. All Corporations are "evil" - profit is the principle of capitalism, this is the driving force of everything built around us. As long as there is a profit to be made there is going to be a competition amongst those who want to make it. Sort of like a game of football or hockey - ther is only one ball/pack competition is great! Occasionally though we need a ref/government to keep everyone in line.
Back to the IM wars, Microsoft is never going to win this game 100% even if Yahoo decides to stick around all the way through. None Will!!!
Too many different services, too many standards, too many protected territories (patents). Watch now for Google starting buying other IMs and making them interoperable or signing a sim contract with other rivalry.

[mpinones]

Finally!

Someone that will teach MSMessenger how to work behind a corporate firewall! or do voice correctly!

[vincentt]

Yep well finally

you are right man, someone would have started this eventually. I have been waiting for it for awhile also, seems that they are really feeling the heat being put on by Google. Seems we've got a new bad boy in town, with all their free stuff, they might just be the next Microsoft

[michael902]

This isn't new

Something similiar to this(which does even more) was made quite a while ago I believe. It is called Trillian. It handles MSN, Yahoo!, AIM, and ICQ, along with others if you pay for the Trillian Pro. You get services other IM services and added features and skins. I have used Trillian, and it seems a lot better than this.

Michael

[ssalava]

On a "spiritual" level?

What's up with this?

"Asked why it took them so long..., Rosensweig said: 'On a spiritual level, we feel like we're coming at this early.'"

So is Rosensweig saying that the reason IM interoperability hasn't happened is because God didn't want it to? Is this the Tower of Babel in reverse?

Good move...benifits to the users

Hi People,
I think you guys are reacting and overestimating Google. No doubt it's a giant when it comes to search, but Microsoft comes to the same count when it comes to desktop. Hence, just condemning MS is not appropriate. Does not mean I support all their evil doing, but afterall it's business. Look at the benifits the users will gain after this union. MSN, Yahoo interoperable, AOL will defintely roll up its sleeves and bring out many more new things for the users. Google, which I personally consider a very small player will have to pitch in with many more features and again this will benifit the users. Ultimately, we the users are gonna gain so many benifits by this union! I guess we should look at this rather than being urchins about a crasher or overrating a security breaching web crawler...

[sammadude]

Not Global enough

I'm waiting for google talk and skype compatability.