Neowin.net - Microsoft, Yahoo said in instant message deal

Microsoft, Yahoo said in instant message deal

Posted by Michael Stanclift on 12 October 2005 - 12:44 · 56 comments & 19478 views

Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. have agreed to make their two instant-messaging programs work together, a partnership that could threaten market leader America Online, people familiar with the situation said.

The deal was expected to be announced early Wednesday, these people told The Associated Press. One of them works closely with Microsoft. The other was briefed on the deal. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details.

A Yahoo-Microsoft partnership, allowing users of the competing services to exchange messages seamlessly, would give the two companies nearly as many users combined as AOL has in total.

AOL’s instant-messaging product, AIM, had some 51.5 million unique U.S. users in September, compared to about 27.3 million for the competing MSN Messenger and 21.9 million for Yahoo’s Messenger, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

News source: MSNBC

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(2 replies) #1 Posted by RaisedFist on 12 Oct 2005 - 12:55: WOW .. the first to comment.

It's a good idea. I really like the way MSN is doing web cam and I wanted that in yahoo messenger. Now, let's wait and see the results.

#2 Posted by stezo2k on 12 Oct 2005 - 12:56: thats a great idea... hopefully it wont make the program worse

(3 replies) #3 Posted by exit on 12 Oct 2005 - 12:59: There will only be one messenger in the future and MS will be it
After MS gains control over all the other messengers it will
Be the defacto state controlled by MS

#4 Posted by kronik on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:04: I'm no expert on the issue but I was just wondering how they plan to combine two very different protocols in one, will it be one protocol with the best of both worlds or two seperate protocols with 2-way compatiability.

(2 replies) #5 Posted by someotherguy582 on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:05: w00t, this sounds like a great idea. Like stezo2k said, I hope it doesnt make MSN worse. I hope they really implement it smoothly and seemlessy.

#6 Posted by Computer Guru on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:05: No, its nnot a program thing. Its a network thing. Way to go MS. Swallow your pride and be the first to deliver!

#7 Posted by M2Ys4U on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:06: Nobody I know uses AIM anyways, it's all MSNM

#8 Posted by RADicaLMMS on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:12: Finally I can dump Windows Messenger too and use Yahoo! Messenger all the time. I love the tight integration Yahoo! messenger has with Yahoo! Music, it streams great!

Maybe MSN will finally support offline messages like Yahoo! has done for years.

(1 reply) #9 Posted by cmn on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:17: just wanted to say, that the AOL users are ICQ and AIM. not AIM alone.

(2 replies) #10 Posted by KayMan2K on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:17

QUOTE

A Yahoo-Microsoft partnership, allowing users of the competing services to exchange messages seamlessly, would give the two companies nearly as many users combined as AOL has in total.

This is a deceiving number because the same person may have one or more accounts on each network. So while the number of registered screen names increases, the actual user base may not increase nearly as much (although an increase is certain).

#10.1 Posted by Computer Guru on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:24: BUT, unlike AIM where you can make screennames on the fly, with MSN and Yahoo you need to actually sign up for email, etc.

I have 6 AIM screennames in a given year. I hate AIM.

My friends have 10+ total. each.

#10.2 Posted by roadwarrior on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:59: With Yahoo, you can have multiple identities tied to a single screen name, and create those on the fly as well.

#11 Posted by EL on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:20: WOW this was a freaking good move by yahoo and microsoft

#12 Posted by Computer Guru on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:23: it looks like the feedback is all good. Way to go MS!

#13 Posted by peacemf on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:32: people use AIM?? yanks i bet

(1 reply) #14 Posted by PlainLazy on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:33: So it was true after all, great news. I've always wanted MSN to implement some features that Yahoo has had for a few years now.

#15 Posted by lotus22 on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:43: Most everyone in college uses AIM for its away message capabilities.

#16 Posted by xUnix on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:45: That would e very cool..

(1 reply) #17 Posted by justdarick on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:46: wasn't there news of msn and aol "working together"... this could be a lead in to bigger discussions

AIM/MSN/YAHOO take on Google

#18 Posted by seebaran on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:47: The "talked" before years ago about doing this but nothing happened. I hope this happens for real this time. It'd be nice if Yahoo I.D. can be added to my MSN Messenger by just typing their Yahoo e-mail address instead of a seperate box that would further clutter the interface.

Slightly OT, has anyone seen the new AIM Triton (SP?). It's much better than before still needs a little less traffic on its interface. I see they got the radio feature out before MSN Messenger. I hope Messenger 8 will be able to support both MSN Radio and MSN Video. That'd be groovy. I made a ghetto looking mock up of Messenger 8 based on other's mock ups I'd like to share. I'll post them in the forums later.

(1 reply) #19 Posted by Silence on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:47

I use AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo, and I don't even notice a difference thanks to GAIM. Otherwise I would be way more selective. But since gaim gives me the same simple look that I want, I couldn't care less about which protocol I use. The only REAL difference is that icq and yahoo support offline messaging, something I think should be a norm in IM... not quite sure why MSN and AIM don't have it.

As for the following:

QUOTE

AOL’s instant-messaging product, AIM, had some 51.5 million unique U.S. users in September, compared to about 27.3 million for the competing MSN Messenger and 21.9 million for Yahoo’s Messenger, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

I'm wondering where those 21.9 million US yahoo messenger users are. I know ONE person in the US that uses it. If it's non-us, then I'd understand it because Yahoo is way more popular in east asia.

#19.1 Posted by roadwarrior on 12 Oct 2005 - 14:02: I guess you've never looked at the chat rooms on Yahoo. Unfortunately, those numbers may be a little off because of all the spam-bots that infest the chat rooms.

#20 Posted by jp10558 on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:49: Everyone I know uses AIM, so this really doesn't affect us unless they also open up. Personally, I use Trillian though, so I could change networks eaisily enough.

(1 reply) #21 Posted by Jase on 12 Oct 2005 - 13:50: worst idea ever.

#22 Posted by DJ Prem on 12 Oct 2005 - 14:10

#23 Posted by brianshapiro on 12 Oct 2005 - 14:22: and remember, msn was reportedly in talks to buy aol

(1 reply) #24 Posted by Jase on 12 Oct 2005 - 14:32

QUOTE

why?

if msnM and Yahoo team up its going to bloat the hell out of the messenger. EG: when you click search you will want to search say either msn search but then oh woops you are searching yahoo

this is just like asking big famous stars to star in a new movie so that it would get high ratings, its very poor way of seeking attention, i say microsoft stay with themselfs and do not team up with yahoo.

as i said, MsnM are perfectly fine.

that is why

#24.1 Posted by Rodrigo on 12 Oct 2005 - 23:23: Ehmm... no.

I think you are missing the point here.

Where does it say that they will make some Mahoo Messenger (read it somewhere in the forum !).

So that being stated, when you search over your MSN Messenger, you will get your results with msn.com, same with Yahoo Messenger which will deliver your search results in yahoo.com.

You will just have the possibility to add and talk with Yahoo contacts, and viceversa.

#25 Posted by Lexcyn on 12 Oct 2005 - 14:40: Good idea! Hopefully the implimentation goes smoothly.

#26 Posted by quigley0 on 12 Oct 2005 - 15:05: A step in the right direction, but, not enough. All IM should be compatable. Just like email. How stupid would it be if Hotmail couldn't send an email to gmail, etc. If you use outlook, you can't receive email from Thunderbird. That is the state of IM right now. Email is seemless (well, almost), and IM needs to get there. Pick a port, pick a protocol, and everyone use it

(1 reply) #27 Posted by DarkBlade on 12 Oct 2005 - 15:11: Nice...maybe this'll get more of my friends to start using MSN. Most of my friends use AIM, and I can't stand AIM.

#28 Posted by LanMan874 on 12 Oct 2005 - 15:17: Very good idea i must say.

#29 Posted by mad_onion on 12 Oct 2005 - 15:29: wow this is great news. as long as the messengers are still seperate there wont be just one will there? i hope not

(1 reply) #30 Posted by Mando on 12 Oct 2005 - 15:45: people people

They arn't merging the two IM protocols or applications into the same app they are just going to make MSN & BTYahoo messenger compatible to each others network/protocols. This has been in the pipeline all this year and is at last properly announced.

This is fairly easy to do (Trillian and Gaim and countless Linux IMs have been doing it for years)

Allowing a 3rd party app to access a closed IM protocol this is all this news is about.
Neither MS or Yahoo would be willing to give up their customer base in IM.

AOL has such a big consumer base due to the fact that AIM is built into the AOL Portal software.

(1 reply) #31 Posted by tlogank on 12 Oct 2005 - 16:25: that's great that AIM has more user's than Yahoo! and MSN combined still...

(2 replies) #32 Posted by asellus on 12 Oct 2005 - 17:09: Some people thinks that this move is nothing new, by pointing out that software like Trillian has already allowed cross-network communications. But this one is different. All you need is a MSN or Yahoo! account, and you are set to go. Even with Trillian and co., you will still need an account for each network (meaning: more usernames and password to remember).

Plus, with this deal, people can actually uses their emoticons, winks, file transfers, video conferencing, voice talks etc seamlessly, and these features can't be replicated by Trillian and GAIM (that goddamn file transfer in GAIM never works).

AOL may have a large userbase in America, but in East and Sout-east Asia (where I lived) where MSN and Yahoo! simply has 90%++ of the userbase, AIM can be considered extinct already with this deal. All is left is Skype (Google Talk is a no contest at all).

#33 Posted by lylesback2 on 12 Oct 2005 - 20:24: thats awesome! if MSN Messenger and Yahoo worked together, they'd own google IM

#34 Posted by lester_kun on 12 Oct 2005 - 21:01: I hope they both merge the protocols... offline messaging rocks. And with some improvements brought from Messenger Plus! and Y!Tunnel, and some freeform skinning, well, that will be THE messenger service. Period.

#35 Posted by mynimal on 12 Oct 2005 - 21:12: Nice to see big corporations working together for once.

#36 Posted by dextro on 13 Oct 2005 - 11:56: Like it's been said I hope people realise they aren't doing a thing to the software, the only new thing they are doing is like a bridge beetween both IM Protocols so let's say .NET Passport user xxx@hotmail.com could add to it's list Yahoo messenger user xxx@yahoo.com, or the other way arround... Simple as that! It's not some huge new thing, it's just the simple next logical step...

Of course some day one of the protocols will eventually take over... It's they way of the world (unfourtnatly).

PS: You don't need an hotmail account to use MSN/Windows messenger (aka :NET Passport account) btw

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