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September 01, 2006
Thinking about Interoperability
I often bring myself back to the days of Prodigy mail not talking to AOL mail, and then I think about IM. Ironically the challenge AOL and Prodigy faced previously when deciding to interop mail is the same challenge mail faces today - MySpace as many have pointed out gains substantial page views from forcing users into their web-based mail clients - as do many other social networks. Will these communities be forced to go the same path as AOL in the long run? Or allow out of website mail access to better their user experience - yet lower their ad views?
Userplane has built a business on creating private IM networks within social spaces - we spend a lot of time thinking about connecting those spaces. There is no question what is best for users - a presence system that allows them to be "online" in all their favorite places and receive messages and alerts - consolidated into a single application or experience.
So its time to interop - we all know the change is coming. Userplane is a network of bridges - holding no namespace of its own - yet monetizing others and sharing back that revenue. The value can be the network not only the namespace...
Posted by Michael Jones at September 1, 2006 02:51 PM