InfoWorld: XMPP rises to face SIMPLE standard: April 18, 2003: By Cathleen Moore: Application Development

InfoWorld: XMPP rises to face SIMPLE standard: April 18, 2003: By Cathleen Moore: Application Development With the lure of presence-aware applications and systems dangling before them, competitors are warming up for a heated race to establish an industry standard protocol for presence awareness and instant messaging interoperability.

Lines are drawn between two protocols currently working their way through the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards body: the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based SIMPLE (SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions) and the open-source, XML-based protocol XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol). Vendors are placing bets, hoping to choose the correct side of the market's eventual shakeout.

Forbes.com: Inside The EBay Biosphere

Forbes.com: Inside The EBay Biosphere He'll get 20 or 30 questions for each item he's selling, and he's now auctioning 7,000 items a month. "A lot of bidders have my direct extension and call me with questions," Edery says. "You need to be committed 100%. The community needs a lot of hand- holding."

A very interesting story, but the comment above starves for something different to scale...

IMlogic, Vayusphere Move into Security

IMlogic, Vayusphere Move into Security After having been in the works since late last year, Mountain View, Calif.-based Vayusphere last week took the wraps off its Managed IM Gateway, which imposes auditing, archiving, reporting and blocking features on top of public IM use within the enterprise -- similar to competing offerings from FaceTime Communications and Akonix.

Meanwhile, IMlogic, an early mover in the public IM logging and auditing space, earlier this week unveiled the upcoming version of its flagship IM Manager product, slated to ship in a month. The Waltham, Mass.-based company's IM Manager 5.0 adds anti-spam and anti-virus protection, unauthorized client-blocking, as well as keyword-based blocking that can be configured to inform superiors or compliance officers when a flagged word is used during an IM conversation. The earlier iteration, version 4.1, provided reporting, archiving, and authentication against corporate LDAP directories.

Bantu wins Air Force instant messaging deal

Bantu wins Air Force instant messaging deal Bantu Inc. of Washington, which also has customers in the Army and Navy, will make its instant-messaging app available to users of the Air Force Portal. The program lets users build buddy lists and communicate instantaneously with other users online.

[rec.games.mud]: FAQ #1/4: MUDs and MUDding

[rec.games.mud]: FAQ #1/4: MUDs and MUDding
1.21. What was the first MUD?
MUD1, written by Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw, back in 1979-80, is generally accepted as the first MUD. Sceptre was developed independently about the same time as MUD1, and so has influenced some mud servers since then. TinyMUD Original, the first of the Tiny- family of muds, was written in August 1989.
1.22. What is a bot?
A bot is a computer program which logs into a MUD and pretends to be a human being. Some of them, like Julia, are pretty clever -- legend has it that Julia's fooled people into believing that she's human. Others have less functionality. The most common bot program is the Maas-Neotek model.

A little more history for me...

Zephyr on Athena (AC-34)

Zephyr on Athena (AC-34) Version A (2 Feb 1990, Sharon Belville): Original document. -- Zephyr is a communication service for sending and receiving messages interactively. It's faster than an e-mail system; messages are delivered instantaneously, however you can converse only with other users who are logged on and running Zephyr at the same time you are.

Came across researching the earlier IM applications...

InformationWeek > Collaboration > The Word Is Out On Instant Messaging > April 11, 2003

InformationWeek > Collaboration > The Word Is Out On Instant Messaging > April 11, 2003 David Gurle, who worked on the Microsoft real-time collaboration team before joining Reuters last month to head the company's collaboration-services business, says the release of Microsoft's real-time server will be a watershed moment for IM because so many companies are waiting for it before committing to an IM infrastructure. But IM is only the tip of the real-time iceberg, Gurle says: "Presence is really the element that gives you visibility into a network of connected users."

GTV Launches Sonork-EIM and Unveils Customers of Enterprise Instant Messaging Solution -- www1.internetwire.com

GTV Launches Sonork-EIM and Unveils Customers of Enterprise Instant Messaging Solution -- www1.internetwire.com Sonork-EIM significantly improves workflow by seamlessly integrating with existing data sources and third-party enterprise application suites. The solution enables rapid internal communications that are archivable for accurate record-keeping, while its secure peer-to-peer data transfer reduces email server costs and is scalable for future enterprise information transfer needs. Sonork-EIM’s robust server boasts an extremely small footprint and is installed behind a customer’s firewall, supporting both intranet and extranet configurations.

InfoWorld: Sun launching IM server: April 10, 2003: By John Fontana, Network World: Applications

InfoWorld: Sun launching IM server: April 10, 2003: By John Fontana, Network World: Applications Sun will offer two clients for its instant messaging server, its Sun One Instant Messenger and a Java applet that can be loaded into a browser. The server runs on Sun Solaris 2.6 and 8, and Microsoft Windows NT. A Linux version is expected before year-end. Pricing for Sun One Instant Messaging 6.0 starts at US$30 per user.