Connecting to MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc?

owen

2006-12-06, 15:35 #1

Member since Nov 2006 · 21 posts · Location: UK
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Subject: Connecting to MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc?

I am a newbie to this, so I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere already. (I did try a search, but to no avail). So far, I have managed to use agsXMPP with VB.NET to produce a basic chat application between GoogleTalk users, and it works nicely. However, it's just by luck that I found the necessary connection details (Server, ConnectServer, Port, etc) in examples posted on this forum. I've no idea how to connect to other IM servers like MSN, Yahoo, etc. (Or even, which of these is XMPP-compatible).

What I would find really useful is a concise summary of all the most popular IM servers and how to connect to each of them using agsXMPP. What should I use for Server, Port, ConnectServer, and are there any "gotchas" that must be noted for each one.

I think I've got GoogleTalk covered but I really need some help with the rest.

Can anybody post a quick summary for me, or a URL of where I can find it? That would be brilliant.

Thank you,
Owen

Alex

2006-12-06, 16:41 #2

Member since Feb 2003 · 4433 posts · Location: Germany
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Hello owen,

the big players aim, icq, msn, yahoo and skype don't support XMPP yet and are closed networks.

But there are transports for XMPP servers which add this functionality. This means you install on a XMPP server an transport which we call gateway and converts the XMPP messages to aim, icq, msn or yahoo messages, and vice versa. With your chat client you have to register this transports once, after that you are able to add contacts of foreign networks and exchange basic messages with them. The transports are currently hacks because the other protocols are proprietary. To use gateways you have to run your own XMPP server and install transports, or use an existing server which was transports installed. You also can register transports over s2s if a foreign server that. I don't think the GTalk servers support transports.

Anyway the best solution is to convince all your friends and customers from XMPP, because this is the open network for IM and more.

Alex

owen

2006-12-06, 17:38 #3

Member since Nov 2006 · 21 posts · Location: UK
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Thank you Alex. I'm learning a lot, here.

I wonder, do you know if the "big players" are intending to move toward XMPP in the future?

I really think they ought to!

Alex

2006-12-06, 18:04 #4

Member since Feb 2003 · 4433 posts · Location: Germany
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Hello owen,

Google made an announcement here:
http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/08/talking-with-skype.…
Interoperability via open industry standards between GTalk and Skype. There is only one open standard for that which is called XMPP ;-)

Also many other companies are working towards interoperability with XMPP federation (e.g. lotus sametime). Currently the main interest is in business and enterprise application.

Our goals in the Jabber community are to establish XMPP as the "SMTP of IM and presence" and I think we are starting to achieve that.

IM and presence today is where Email was 15 years ago. There was AOL, Compuserve and others without open standards, you were not able to send an email from one provider to another.

Alex

Alex

2006-12-06, 23:39 #5

Member since Feb 2003 · 4433 posts · Location: Germany
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some news on this topic:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2068781,00.asp