"They haven't blocked ICQ, and we are grateful for that, and our users are grateful for that," Ronen said. Nonetheless, Ronen does not see anything wrong with forcing interoperability on AOL. Odigo's Ronen said the company has tried contacting AOL, but the online giant has not returned its phone calls. Whether Odigo will receive a similar response from AOL remains to be seen. Open its network to outsiders as a key competitive issue relating to its pending merger with Time Warner.ĬMGI's iCast and Tribal Voice filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission last week, asking officials to "encourage" AOL to open its network. Last week, Yahoo said it would begin exploring ways to join forces with other companies to develop an instant messaging standard.ĪOL rivals have also asked federal regulators to treat the Internet giant's Many of AOL's instant messaging rivals are getting impatient. They say its licensing deals only provide for the further deployment of AIM and do not offer a way for rival services to interoperate. The company has struck deals with more than a dozen companies-including IBM, Novell, Lycos, EarthLink, Apple Computer and Juno Online Services-to integrate AIM technology into their products.īut critics allege AOL has backed away from assisting the development of an industry standard for universal messaging. Disagreements between AOL and rivals including CMGI's Tribal Voice and AT&T have spilled into open warfare over unauthorized attempts by these companies to tap into AIM's database of usernames.ĪOL has said it is willing to work with anyone in the industry to bring instant messaging to consumers. Other Internet companies have tried forcing AOL's hand in opening its coveted audience to outsiders.
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