Google Caves in to AOL

When Google launched GTalk, their instant messaging client, I was excited that they based it on an open protocol, XMPP (also known as Jabber). It seemed XMPP was finally gaining some traction and that perhaps having a heavy-weight behind it would help encourage the other networks (the big three: Yahoo, Microsoft & AOL?) to join in. When Google and AOL announced a partnership (with Google paying $1 Billion for a 5% Stake in AOL) the revolution seemed imminent (yes, I am prone to exaggeration (and parentheticals)). The press release even included this statement:

Enabling Google Talk and AIM instant messaging users to communicate with each other, provided certain conditions are met;

After two years, we finally see the fruit of this labor. Last week, it was announced that GMail users can now talk to AOL users using GMail’s bult-in chat client. Sounds great, right? Except, rather than convincing AOL to adopt an open protocol, Google is simply accessing the AIM network in the same way that multi-protocol clients such as Pidgin (GAIM), Trillian and others have been doing for years. IOW, you still have to have an AIM account. The only difference is that this one is officially sanctioned. Apparently, AOL’s “Open” AIM program doesn’t normally allow clients “that are multi-headed or interoperable with other IM networks”.

The thing that really irked me was this statement in the announcement:

From the beginning, Google has been committed to open standards and interoperation for instant messaging. So when our friends at AOL agreed to let Gmail users talk to users on their network, we jumped at the chance.

Except this is the complete opposite of “open standards” and barely even interoperation. So, why does any of this matter? Imagine if email still worked the way IM does now. If you wanted to send an email to a Hotmail user, you’d have to have an account on Hotmail. Want to email a Yahoo user? Time to sign up for another account. I’d like to say that this is a step in the right direction but I am not hopeful.

PS to Google: I wish you luck with Open Social but how about OpenID support for Blogger?