Technology Playground™

Under the “Primary” tab, at the lower-right end of the page is a new field for Messenger ID for Windows Live (MSN).

Then on the “Additional” tab, the last field shows another new field (the field name’s not even bolded) - the Messenger ID: (Business) for Microsoft LCS, LCS for Live Communication Server or Windows Live Messenger network.

Ok, nothing new. If you are one of those following technology updates you probably heard about the future inter-messaging between Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, potentially kicking off AOL’s Instant Messenger or AIM and ICQ from the top charts.

But under the “Other” tab is something interesting - additional fields for the other Instant Messengers. Currently it has a field ff:

AOL/AIM Messenger ID
Google Talk ID
ICQ Messenger ID
IRC Messenger ID
QQ Messenger ID
Skype Messenger ID

Why is YM8beta providing fields for the other messengers? Are they planning on opening their networks to those as well? Could they be planning to embrace the vision and objectives of the IM Federation and/or the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol or XMPP/XMPP Federation?

Also, they included QQ Messenger, a popular Chinese Instant Messenger, does this mean YM is going to actively market their product in the huge Chinese market? How about Skype?

They should also add a field for Jabber Add UIN (Universal Internet Number) before ICQ as such UIN/ICQ since UIN is the official term for ICQ IDs. Why not add the 3D IMs out there like IMVU? Better yet, allow us to add our own different type of fields

Whatever YM is planning, let us hope that it is to sync with the goals of the XMPP Federation and IM Federation - Instant Messenger Interoperability. Afterall, this is the age of a One-World Community, the age of integration, the age of the consumers, the age of free information flow, the age of uniting for the betterment of all.

Or maybe, it all means nothing, and the YM8beta team just want to add additional fields for their YM customers pleasure.