The GooglePlex must be on high alert. Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to link their Instant Messaging (IM) networks so users of one can communicate by message or voice with users of the other.

Though I find it amazing that Microsoft is “cooperating” with anyone, especially an entity in direct competition on a lot of fronts, on another level this is not surprising, since Microsoft has obviously set their sites on destroying Google, and this move is certainly a step in that direction.

The open access to both networks is welcome news to Microsoft and Yahoo IM users, since the current IM situation is very fragmented, with the only way around the problem being subscription to all three IM networks. There is, however, a downside to the proposed opening of the Yahoo/Microsoft IM interface. That downside is the potential for faster and more widespread IM worm proliferation across both networks.

I can only wonder what Google is going to come up with to one-up this.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2005 at 1:27 pmunder Personal Stuff and . Comment RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.