Multi-Protocol IM Clients and Client Frameworks
Upon reading a commentary from Irwin Lazar, Carl Tyler asks
Is instant messaging the death knell for email?
I think the answer is “no”. What I do believe is that individuals will gravitate to a single interface to whatever content they use most.
Email, IM, Blogs, Web, and applications all have their own user interfaces. When these start to have standard protocols, file formats, and interfaces, users have the option to choose the user interface that they like best.
Consider POP3 email. Users today have a wide array of choices, from simple web based HTML interfaces to rich JavaScript laden web interfaces to operating system supplied thick clients like “Mail” and “Outlook Express” to free open source clients like Thunderbird to commercial clients like Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook.
Blogs are also evolving open standards and open interfaces. This allows end users to again make their own choice of clients.
I think instant messaging is likely to follow suit. It is not happening fast but it is happening. We are moving from proprietary and isolated services to interconnected services. At the same time, we are moving from single service clients to multi-protocol clients. Both of these moves are attempts to give users choices. Eventually we may reach a common protocol such as a future version of XMPP.
Now back to my original point. I think the next move it for client frameworks. As a matter of fact, it’s not really the “next” move since it is already happening. There are client frameworks that allow a user to combine blog readers, instant messaging, and email into a single user interface.
This, I believe is the right direction. However, I caution anyone or any company who believe *their framework should be *the* framework. This is counter to open standards and user choice.
So what frameworks are out there today that *work* for you ? What collaboration functions have you integrated ? I’d be interested in comments <hint> !
