COLUMN: Warring Messages on the Internet
By Michael Watanabe
Daily Forty-Niner (California State U.-Long Beach)
02/11/2002

(U-WIRE) LONG BEACH, Calif. — Hey baby, what's your number? 555-555...No, not your phone number. Your ICQ number.

Millions on the Internet have found the wonders of instant messaging. America Online has a version. Microsoft has a version. Yahoo has a version. And yes, ICQ is another possibility.

Instant messaging is an Internet tool that allows people to contact each other in real time.

My main form of communicating is instant messaging. I no longer call people. Everyone I talk to is online. Unfortunately, I have friends on AOL and ICQ. I can't talk with both of them without having two programs open.

That is when I found my savior: Trillian. Trillian combines the services of AOL, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo in one nice, neat, little package. The program is great for people like me.

But, AOL does not approve. Much like previous battles with Microsoft, AOL changed its program ever so slightly to prevent Trillian users from logging in. Sure, Trillian's makers fixed the problem. But, the next day, AOL did it again. And Trillian fixed it again. This constant back and forth has continued through this weekend.

Yes, the instant messenger wars have continued.

Instant messaging became a contentious point when the AOL-Time Warner deal was about to go down. The Federal Communications Commission had required that AOL become compatible with one rival messaging service.

But, that is only one. What about all of the other instant message clients out there? It would just be simpler to allow every client to integrate with AOL.

In the current situation, America Online claims it is worried about the security and the confidentiality of its users. And, I can see the company's point. These guys running Trillian did not ask AOL if they could use the programming.

For all we know, these guys can be trying to "hack" into the system to figure out users' screen names and passwords. That would be why they provide their real names — Kevin Kurtz and Scott Werndorfer — on the Trillian Web site.

Had they been true hackers — a misnomer, by the way, — why use their real names so AOL can sue their butts off?

But, I did not develop the system. If AOL, the people who built this system, wishes to exclude Trillian, it has every right. The system is, after all, AOL's. Trillian did not ask AOL for its consent.

And, AOL is not my company. Why would it listen to John Q. Public, as evidenced by Trillian's 1 million users? But, that would just be silly, now wouldn't it?

So, let's face it. This little scuffle isn't about security. This isn't about AOL's consent. And worst of all, this is not about what's right. This scuffle is about profits.

No matter how much the company tries to minimize it, AOL and ICQ have pop-up advertisements that make them money. It might not be a lot of money, but it does let them rake in the dough.

But for once, can't this not be about profit? We have enough corporations not caring about what the people want. It may seem a weird concept to America Online, the "So easy to use, no wonder it's no. 1" company. AOL should forgive its precious profits to, for once, be accessible and readily available to the Internet community.

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