> From: “Jim Whitehead”
> Date: Tue Jul 23, 2002 01:27:06 PM US/Pacific
> To: “FoRK”
> Subject: AOL scaling back IM interoperability
>
> I suppose the main surprise here is that AOL is coming clean at
> all. After
> all, its long-running game of talking interop, and doing
> everything possible
> to prevent open standards in this arena, seemed to have been
> working fine,
> with most end users completely oblivious to AOL’s actions.
>
> http://www.quicken.com/investments/news/story/djbn/?story=/news/stories/dj/
> 2
> 0020723/ON20020723000833.htm
>
> America Online Scales Back Instant-Messaging Compatibility Efforts
> Updated: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 01:23 PM ET
>
> Dow Jones Newswires
>
> NEW YORK — America Online appears to be scaling back efforts to
> make its
> instant-messaging service compatible with rival services.
>
> The unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. (AOL, news, msgs) said in a regulatory
> filing it is now focusing on messaging interoperability methods
> that are
> more limited in scope than the kind envisioned by the Federal
> Communications
> Commission when it approved the AOL-Time Warner merger in January 2001.
>
> America Online isn’t required to make its messaging system
> interoperable
> with others, but the FCC’s merger approval included what it
> considered to be
> incentives for the company to do so. It also required AOL to file
> progress
> reports on its interoperability efforts every six months. The most
> recent
> report, filed last week, disclosed the company’s new direction.
>
> The upshot of the strategy shift is that the instant-messaging
> market isn’t
> much closer to broad-based interoperability than it was 18 months ago,
> according to industry analysts. Unlike e-mail, users of most competing
> instant-messaging services still can’t directly trade messages. So an
> America Online instant- messaging user can’t communicate with a user of
> Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT, news, msgs) MSN Messenger, except by using
> third-party software such as Trillian.
>
> America Online, the biggest instant-messaging provider, has been
> criticized
> for blocking users of rival services from gaining access to its
> users. The
> company also has been accused of dragging its feet amid industry
> attempts at
> interoperability.
>
> For its part, America Online has said it wants to protect the
> security of
> its users and the reliability of its system. And it points out
> that other
> companies have so far failed to agree on interoperability standards.
>
> When the FCC approved the AOL-Time Warner merger, it said that if
> America
> Online wanted to offer video-conferencing and other advanced
> instant-messaging features over Time Warner’s cable lines, it
> first had to
> enable its instant- messaging users to communicate with users of rival
> services. The intent of the condition was to prevent America
> Online from
> widening its dominance of the instant-messaging market by
> exploiting its
> access to Time Warner cable systems.
>
> AOL hasn’t yet introduced video features, even though rivals
> Microsoft and
> Yahoo Inc. (YHOO, news, msgs) did so last year.
>
> Specifically, the FCC said America Online would have to implement a
> technology known as “server-to-server interoperability” before it could
> offer video. The technology would allow users of non-America
> Online services
> to detect when AOL users are online, and to trade messages. It
> would do so
> via communications between the computer servers operated by each
> messaging
> provider, using a common language.
>
> But in the progress report filed with the FCC last week, America
> Online said
> it will “focus its efforts” on alternatives to server-to-server
> interoperability. They are more limited in scope than server-to-sever.
>
> As an example of an alternative, America Online cited a recent
> agreement to
> make its instant-messaging service compatible with a new messaging
> service
> from Apple Computer Corp. (AAPL, news, msgs). The Apple service,
> IChat, will
> be included in Mac OS X 10.2, the new Apple operating system set
> for release
> in August.
>
> IChat users will be able to talk to America Online users, but it won’t
> involve server-to-server interoperability. Instead, the actual
> exchange of
> messages will occur only on America Online’s servers, even as IChat
> customers use Apple software.
>
> “We believe this kind of hosted IM solution provides, at least in
> the short
> term, a secure, reliable and cost-effective means to provide
> interoperability between AOL, IM and unaffiliated IM communities,”
> Steven
> Teplitz, AOL’s associate general counsel, wrote in the progress
> report to
> the FCC.
>
> As to the apparent change in strategy, company spokeswoman Kathy
> McKiernan
> said Tuesday: “It’s a recognition that server-to-server has proven
> a hard
> nut to crack for the entire industry.” Indeed, users of America
> Online’s
> rival services can’t directly communicate with each other, either.
>
> The alternative solution “was something that we could implement now to
> provide for IM communities to communicate,” said Ms. McKiernan, adding
> America Online would explore partnerships with other messaging
> providers,
> similar to the Apple deal. None has been announced so far.
>
> FCC officials couldn’t be reached Tuesday.
>
> America Online hasn’t ruled out the possibility that it would someday
> implement server-to-server interoperability. The company has
> explored the
> technology in the past, including a server-to-server last year
> with Lotus
> Development, a unit of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM,
> news,
> msgs).
>
> But America Online’s interoperability test with Lotus was “limited
> in scope
> and functionality.” True server-to-server technology “would
> require further
> significant expenditures of time and resources to develop,” wrote Mr.
> Teplitz.
>
> The Internet Engineering Task Force, a group devoted to developing
> Internet
> standards, has been working on a server-to-server messaging
> technology but
> hasn’t yet developed a final version, according to America Online. Task
> force representatives couldn’t be reached.
>
> The company’s strategy shift means that true interoperability in
> instant
> messaging is still a couple of years away, according to Michael
> Gartenberg,
> analyst with Jupiter Research.
>
> “It’s still something the market wants,” he said. “At some point, it’ll
> happen, but maybe a couple of years down the road.”
>
> Mr. Gartenberg and other analysts believe America Online hasn’t
> actively
> pursued true interoperability because it wants to protect its
> large user
> base. If messaging systems were compatible, the company could lose
> ground
> because prospective customers might see no difference in choosing
> another
> provider, as long as they can reach America Online users.
>
> But partly because of its lack of compatibility and the FCC conditions,
> America Online hasn’t kept up with rivals in offering new
> services. MSN and
> Yahoo have had video-conferencing via instant-messaging since last
> year. AOL
> has denied that it has held back on video messaging to avoid making its
> system interoperable, arguing there is little consumer demand for it.
>
> But the new features have paid off for the company’s rivals, and
> they are
> catching up. Between last October and April, Microsoft’s Messenger
> user base
> rose 32% to 29.1 million, according to ComScore Media Metrix,
> while Yahoo’s
> base jumped 19% to 19.2 million users. In the same period, the
> number of
> users of AOL-branded messaging services increased 7% to 54.9 million.
>
>
> -Peter Loftus; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5267;
> peter.loftus [at] dowjones [dot] com
>
> Copyright 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
> All Rights Reserved
>
>
> http://xent.com/mailman/listinfo/fork

———–

The BeOS community, now washed up on the shore of a nearby deserted island, can watch the captain of their soon-to-be-scuttled ship attempt to extract some sense of pride as he tries to dent the enemy Dreadnought on the way down.

Ramming Speed, Mr. Kawasaki!

Not that Microsoft doesn’t deserve these constant, bothersome wranglings, but if the truth must be told, Be really did do it to themselves.

Still, I admire Gassee’s panache.

-Ian.

——– http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020219/n19177612_2.html

Tuesday February 19, 7:48 pm Eastern Time

Be sues Microsoft for ‘destruction’ of business (UPDATE: Updates with Microsoft reaction, details, adds byline)

By Scott Hillis

SEATTLE, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Be Inc. (NasdaqNM:BEOS – news), the failed maker of a computer operating system hailed by some as an elegant rival to Microsoft Corp.’s (NasdaqNM:MSFT – news) dominant Windows platform, said on Tuesday it is suing the software giant for allegedly destroying its business through anti-competitive practices. ADVERTISEMENT

Be, which sold most of its assets last year to handheld computer maker Palm Inc. (NasdaqNM:PALM – news), said in a filing in federal court in San Francisco that Microsoft struck deals with PC makers barring them from installing more than one operating system on computers they sold.

“Microsoft harmed Be through a series of illegal exclusionary and anti-competitive acts designed to maintain its monopoly in the Intel-compatible PC operating system market,” Be said in the statement.

Be said the acts resulted in the “destruction” of its business.

The suit is the latest legal headache for Microsoft, which is battling a U.S. government antitrust suit as well as private class action suits and a new case filed by rival AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL – news) alleging Microsoft harmed its Netscape browser unit.

“This sort of litigation is not in the interests of consumers, nor is it good for the industry,” Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said, adding that Microsoft would “respond accordingly” in court once it had reviewed the suit.

Desler also took issue with Be’s core contention, saying: “Computer manufacturers have always been able to ship multiple operating systems with their computers. In fact, they could and did install Be’s operating system on their computers.”

Last August, Be said it was selling the operating system, called BeOS, to Palm for $11 million. Elements of BeOS are expected to be included in Palm’s next operating system, PalmOS 5.

While the company sold its product assets to Palm, it held on to other assets like cash and receivables, as well as some contract obligations and the right to pursue certain legal actions like antitrust claims.

Shares in Be rose 2 cents, or 20 percent, to 12 cents on Tuesday in Nasdaq trading.

THE “BATMOBILE” OS

The BeOS, introduced in 1990, had been hailed as a visionary product for its multimedia abilities, elegance and ability to run many programs at the same time.

But while it had a core of devoted fans, including science fiction writer Neal Stephenson, who called it the “Batmobile” of operating systems, Be never achieved commercial success. Most recently, it powered a short-lived Web-oriented computer from Sony called the eVilla.

“The great idea behind BeOS was to start from a clean sheet of paper and design an OS the right way. And that is exactly what they did. This was obviously a good idea from an aesthetic standpoint, but does not a sound business plan make,” Stephenson wrote in his 1999 operating system essay “In The Beginning Was The Command Line.”

Be’s founder, Jean-Louise Gassee, became a poster child for missed opportunities when he reportedly turned down an offer by Apple Computer Corp. (NasdaqNM:AAPL – news) in 1996 to buy the company for $125 million.

Gassee, according to the book “Apple Confidential,” wanted $200 million. Apple eventually bought Next, a company started by Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and former chief executive, for $400 million. The Next operating system now powers Apple’s newest computers in the form of Mac OS X.

In the late 1990s, Be also saw increased competition from the upstart Linux operating system, which gained ground as a free alternative to Windows and other proprietary software.