Instant Messaging Standards
The issue I think in this article is when Microsoft and Yahoo! had the ability to send messages to users on the AOL network. AOL did not like the idea of them having access to their IM so they blocked their access to their network by changing their protocols that are used to communicate with AOL’s servers. Microsoft then modified there software so AOL became accessible to MSN users again. AOL later put up another block and Microsoft again passed that block, this happened a few times. Eventually Microsoft gave up because the “techniques AOL used to lock its system could pose a security threat to both companies customers� (The Long Battle). Then Trillion came in and they were compatible with MSN, Yahoo!, and ICQ. They were also compatible with AOL. So AOL had to block Trillion, but unlike Microsoft, Trillion did not back down. They welcomed Trillions service for a while and did not block the servers. So now only some times will AOL and Trillion work with each other.
The stakeholders of this case I think are the people who are using the instant messenger services. The most popular age group would be teenagers and young adults. Other users would be people at the work place. Not every user has the same IM. Some people who talk to other people from both AOL and MSN do not always know if they are able talk to someone from AOL, it would switch all of the time because MSN hacks in to AOL so they can talk to each other. The other stakeholders could be the people who are in charge of the companies who try and block and unblock the other IM’s.
I think that this issue exists because friends have different types of instant messenger services and they wanted to be able to talk to everyone without having to download the other services. Another reason this issue exists is because other users what to be able to talk to their friends on AOL from their different form of IM. AOL does not want anybody else to use their IM except AOL users. AOL is the most used IM service so they see it as why should they have to share. If a user wants to talk to someone on AOL then AOL wants they to download and use it from them and not the others. They are leading service they want to keep it that way. So if more people just decide to use AOL and not use the other forms of IM then the value of IM to those users becomes lower. Each company was just trying to make their companies better and easy for their customers to keep interest for their users.