Some messenger protocols being blocked?

[mike james]

Pete Brown wrote:
> On Tue, 6 Feb 2007 09:23:25 am Chris Jones wrote:
>   
>> I am having issues connecting to the MSN protocol using GAIM. I have
>> been trying for several weeks now to no avail. A reliable source told me
>> that Microsoft have begun blocking users who try and use the MSN
>> protocol with a third-party client. i.e. GAIM. Is this true? And if so,
>> how long would it be before other companies do the same thing such as
>> ICQ and Yahoo?
>>     
>
> it has happend occasionally with MSN and yahoo already and since ICQ is owned 
> by AOL it wouldn't surprise me.
> it depends on the client and what library that client uses for connection.
> its because the libraries are reverse engineered and if the protocol gets 
> changed it has to be figured out again.
> the best way to avoid it is to convince the people you chat with to use 
> something that actually uses an open protocol.
> the most well know of these is google talk which uses the jabber protocol 
> which in my opinion the best chat protocol around, though calling it a chat 
> protocol is a little limiting since it does a whole lot more these days.
> (yeah i have been using jabber for almost as long as it has existed)
>
>   
I seem to recall that the last time MSN went from one major version to 
another we had the same problem, but it was soon resolved. I havent used 
MSN for ages though.

mike