Features

Yahoo!, Microsoft IM are Now Interoperable

By Sophia Mayengbam

Yahoo! and Microsoft has launched a limited beta testing of interoperability between their instant messaging (IM) services. This will enable users of Windows Live Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice to connect and chat with each other.

Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Google all have separate IM systems that do not connect among people using other programs. This first step to interoperability between these to global IM provider will address the world’s largest IM community, approaching 350 million accounts.

The companies had announced the plan earlier in October 2005. The release was slated in June but was delayed, as Microsoft wanted to make sure the systems would work well with both companies' users.

With this free of cost beta version users will be able to see their friends’ online presence, view personal status messages, share select emoticons, view offline messages and add new contacts from either service. Both the companies plan to make the interoperability between their respective IM services broadly available to consumers in the coming months.

For now, the partnership will only work for sending text back and forth, although the companies said there are plans to eventually add voice capabilities. Exchange of video capabilities has not been discussed as of now, but the companies said it might be a possibility in the future.

"This first-of-its-kind interoperability between consumer IM leaders Microsoft and Yahoo! give our customers tremendous control, convenience and freedom in their Web communication experiences with Windows Live," said Blake Irving, corporate vice president, Windows Live Platform at Microsoft.

He said this step is a turning point in the industry and open up avenues for interoperability with other IM providers.

He added, "We’re proud to deliver this latest advancement in IM services that empower people to communicate with virtually whomever they want, wherever they want and whenever they want."

Brad Garlinghouse, senior vice president of Communications, Community and Front Doors, Yahoo! said that in Interoperability between IM services has consistently topped our users’ wish lists.

He said, "A new era for staying connected with friends and family is here, and the bridge between Yahoo!’s and Microsoft’s IM communities is bringing people around the world closer together."

Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice users in the U.S. and more than 15 international markets can register to participate in the IM interoperability beta by visiting Yahoo! at http://messenger.yahoo.com or Microsoft at http://ideas.live.com. The new beta program will be available in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (English and French), China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States (English and Spanish).