[JDEV] Open IM (was Jabber Transports - New Architecture)

[Holger P. Krekel]

> I wouldn't have moved if I couldn't talk to my friends on ICQ.   I
> (...)
> What makes a IM system popular is the people on it.  You don't use an IM
> because of features, or because the client is "pretty".  You use the IM
> because the people you want to talk to are also on it.  Jabber has a
> major advantage here because of it's gateways to other networks. 

Exactly. 

We should not underestimate that the interoperability is of major importance
to people using jabber. It just motivates people to switch to jabber because
they can talk to their friends in the "old" world. It makes people aware of
jabber and helps to enlarge the community. Jabber is my first real IM-attempt.
I would not have gone for MSN, yahoo and the like. 

My experiences: people begin to *really hate* stuff like gmx , yahoo, hotmail, 
MSN.  In the last days i talked to 3-4 friends who literally said they *hate* it and would
love to have something better. It might be a bit dangerous to just say
"lets forget about interoperability, lets do the real stuff". I am not
saying its not a nice idea. But jabber is still looking for "early adaptors"
and slowly begiing to "cross the chasm". but it's definitely not at
"mainstream". An interoperable IM-system is a very good starting point
to enter the mainstream markets and attract ever more people... 
ok. enough marketing babble :-)

As an developer i agree that concentrating on making jabber the best
network architecture out there, is attractive. That sounds a bit
like a dillemma, doesn't it? After all we are not developing free
software only for the fun of other but also for ourselves...

	holger

--
holger at trillke.net
meet me: hpk at jabber.trillke.net
I would love an integration of email and jabber.