Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Instant Messaging is Dead
Author: Chris Hanson Posted: 8/5/1999; 12:00:35 PM Topic: Instant Messaging is Dead Msg #: 9176 (In response to 9166) Prev/Next: 9174 / 9177
There is no protocol specification for IMPP as yet. The requirements for a standard instant messaging and presence protocol are still under active discussion, though this discussion is nearing a close and protocol design can probably begin soon.Why is this important? The participants -- and the IETF as a whole -- take developing scalable, secure systems very seriously. You can't get a truly scalable, truly secure system without a lot of up-front design work. It's also important to build on the work others have done and to learn from their mistake; participating in the IMPP discussions are developers and administrators of nearly all of the Internet instant messaging systems that are currently deployed.
As for using HTTP, the Internet Engineering Steering Group has some words on that at <ftp://ftp.ietf.org//internet-drafts/draft-iesg-using-http-00.txt>.
I cannot reccommend strongly enough that any new protocol development be done under the auspices of the IETF and through its protocol-development process. Yeah, it takes time, and it can occasionally be a frustratingly cooperative effort, but communications protocols are too important nowadays to leave to vendor consortia or to any process that isn't completely open and inclusive.
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