I thought I would start this new thread, as a follow up to a question posted by Bezel about 3rd party IM clients:
What's about existing 3rd party instant messenger clients It's been always a confusing moment for me. I do not see anywhere a clear answer about "legal" aspect of it. For example Trillian and Gaim are very popular 3rd party IM clients that connect to MSN Messenger network as well. But it does not look clear if these products do that legally...
The similar situation with web messenger clients (for example www.meebo.com or www.e-messenger.net). It seems to me these clients are not build on top of some ISV platform and there is no information they are officially registered with Microsoft...
So, what's the story about it What is the position of Microsoft for 3rd party clients
At this point in time there is only one shipping non-Microsoft client that is licensed for connecting to the .net Messenger network, and that is the Reuters Messaging client. It's an enterprise client focused at the worldwide financial services market. Then there is the landmark Microsoft and Yahoo interoperability agreement that was annouced in October of last year, and will be available in the future. Any other IM clients (and there are a few so fill in the blanks) that are connecting to the network, are unlicensed for what they're doing.
Todd Biggs
Product Manager, MSN
3rd Party IM Clients
Dinesh Patel
speaking of IM stuff, i remember this, it was at the interoperable agreement between Yahoo and MSN (Messengers), Due to be released in second quarter of 2006 - First quarter MSN releases WLM beta, Are you thinking what i'm thinking
I think i might be jumping the gun a little here, but is WLM going to allow connecting to yahoo clients
kkennedy1008
Thanks for your fast response Todd.
I think there is still one confusion moment (and I'm sure not just for me personally) - what is the position of Microsoft to all these existing MSN clients
Yes, I understand form your post that they are all "unlicensed", but may be there is a some program coming to resolve that
I understand you may not worry about "stand-alone" clients, because they are designed for the personal use and I really do not see a harm for MSN Messenger service in that.
But what's about online versions
For example take a look on meebo.com. I discovered it recently and was really surprised.
Unlike many others - they are an official US based company who positions their business model on IM services (MSN/Yahoo/AIM/Google).
They got 3 millions dollars of investments to extend their business last month!
Here I get really confused. How can a legitimate company (located in US!!!) do that without having a license from MSN Messenger network (and probably other IM networks as well) to use it for the business…
P.S. Please get me right, I really do not care about meebo.com itself and their relationships with Microsoft. I just want to understand the legal part of the current situation where anybody can write 3rd party MSN client and even do a business from that. If this is not an appropiate topic for this forum - I'm sorry...
WThabet
I think the position is that 3rd party IM clients that are connecting to the .net Messenger service, be they web or desktop client, are unlicensed for what they're doing. If you think about it, what they're doing drives costs up for MSN with no benefit to MSN by taking users out our free client and putting them into their own client that they monetize for their own business. I don't think my local gas station or bakery would be happy about me standing in their business and selling their product/service and then taking all the money for myself
All I know is that at this time there's not a program for 3rd party clients like those you describe. I understand the reason for your question and realize that it is a confusing situation because there are a number of unlicensed clients that are making unlicensed access to the network. I decided to post a thread on the topic to comment on the position on these clients, but unfortunately there's really not a lot more I can say about it.
SammyR.