meebo

[ged25]

For those of you who know about meebo, I was wondering why the other IM networks (yahoo, AIM etc) haven't blocked it. Wouldn't it be a loss for them if users shifted to using meebo rather than their own clients ?

[Jordan]

I can't imagine why they would block it. They don't make any money from their clients and there are no ads in the clients. It is more like a brand, IMO. If they blocked Meebo they would have to block Zohoo Chat, Pidgin, Adium, and a plethora of other clients as well.

[BlaineSch]

I think it also helps promote other sites - all those sites I have never heard of before that they offer chat for I was actually looking up just to see whats up with them. I like their idea I just wish they supported IRC so I wouldnt have to download anything.

[ged25]

But Yahoo! Messenger supports ads right and I heard that few years ago they blocked Trillian which I think is similiar to meebo (I am not entirely sure cause I haven't used trillian). The less popular IM networks could probably use the publicity though.

[BlaineSch]

I downloaded Trillian simply because Meebo doesn't support IRC but it has Yahoo! on there and I still use it. If they did block it then it did not last very long.

[ged25]

From what I heard they blocked trillian few times but trillian came up with patches for it. It made sense though. They were making money off yahoo IM network. I guess I'm finding it difficult to figure out how it could benefit them.

[Jordan]

I don't see how they could effectively block any client. Clients can imitate any other client simple enough and adhere to any protocol limitations an IM server could imply.

[WingedPanther]

Yahoo and AOL have both been in wars to block other IM clients from using their networks. Trillian and GAIM (now pidgin) where the two biggest in the struggle. The reality is that it probably became pointless. The programmers for the third-party clients talk to each other. You have a small group of people working on the AIM client, for example, and hundreds working on the others. Worse, in the case of pidgin you are likely to have a LOT of people who have the resources and interest to figure out why their client stopped working. How long would you want to continue that fight?

[John]

I know, not so long ago, Facebook blocked Meebo. I'm not sure if they settled their dispute yet.

[Jordan]

Well put WP, that should be a blog ( @ Amr). What are/were the reasons behind those companies wanting to block other clients? Ads? Uniform standards? What about Operating Systems where their client doesn't work like BSD, Linux, etc?

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