Christopher Saunders

Among the surprises in the news from Microsoft and AOL Time Warner that they had settled a private antitrust lawsuit regarding AOL’s Netscape unit was a pledge that the two would “explore” ways to achieve interoperability of their Instant Messaging platforms. As part of Microsoft’s plan to pay AOL Time Warner $750 million to settle […]

After years of shying away from compatibility with other instant messaging networks, AOL Time Warner is again indicating that it will consider ways to open its proprietary system. The partner in this effort is longtime IM archrival Microsoft , and the announcement comes as part of a $750 million settlement between the two Internet giants […]

While AOL Time Warner continues to suffer from a harsh advertising market, the New York-based media conglomerate is seeking new ways to make money from its instant messaging service. The company in recent weeks started charging a small fee for the Expressions for AOL Instant Messenger users. Expressions — downloadable skins or themes that add […]

Dow Jones & Co.’s Wall Street Journal Online is launching its news instant messaging bot, powered by InfiniteAgent. The bot, dubbed “WSJOnline” and available on America Online’s AOL Instant Messenger network, gives current news headlines and summaries, and stock quotes, when users send it an IM. Users can navigate through menus to sort headlines by […]

America Online is moving quietly into video messaging by implementing a “push-to-talk”-like service — a move that circumvents controversial government limitations on the company’s multimedia IM capabilities. Currently in beta testing, the new AOL feature will enable the service’s subscribers to activate an additional pane on their IM client. Within that pane, users can record […]

Despite rumors about another delay in shipping its “Greenwich” server, Microsoft says the product is on schedule — and in the meantime, is concentrating on making its sales pitch for the technology as competitors ready their own offerings. The “Microsoft Real-Time Communications Server 2003 Standard Edition,” as the product formerly codenamed “Greenwich” is to be […]

America Online has asked the Federal Communications Commission to drop a two-year-old restriction on the media conglomerate’s development of broadband-based video instant messaging and other advanced services. While signing off on the America Online-Time Warner merger in 2001, the FCC had decided that the combined company could hurt competition by using its vast market share […]

Logitech’s video IM has gone legit. Personal computer peripheral maker Logitech and Microsoft are working together to provide a co-branded Webcam interface to the Redmond, Wash.-based software behemoth’s MSN Messenger IM network client. The move brings legitimacy to Logitech’s IM Video Companion application, which the Fremont, Calif.-based firm — a leader in the low-cost personal […]

The battle for dominance in the instant messaging space continues expanding into the wireless arena, as the three leaders in desktop IM ink new alliances that seek to land them mobile users. Last week, Yahoo! said it had signed Cingular Wireless in the U.S. as its second partner for PC-initiated messaging from the Yahoo! Instant […]

America Online continues gaining incremental support for its Enterprise AIM Gateway, securing a key agreement with another longtime partner, IBM’s Lotus division. Since early 1999, America Online and Cambridge, Mass.-based Lotus have been collaborating on enabling connectivity to the AIM public instant messaging network from within Lotus Sametime, which is considered the leader in enterprise […]

In the first major victory for the large public instant messaging players’ push to gain credibility in the B2B market, Hewlett-Packard has agreed to resell and integrate America Online’s enterprise-class instant messaging product into its own offerings. Two months ago, Dulles, Va.-based AOL, a unit of AOL Time Warner , introduced the Enterprise AIM Gateway, […]

Users of Microsoft’s .NET Messenger Service faced several hours of being unable to log on during Monday, reviving concerns about the reliability of public instant messaging networks — even as the software giant and its rivals seek to encourage businesses to employ such services. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said the .NET Messenger Service was down over […]