"The US Federal Communications Commission, throwing out its earlier ruling, has decided to allow AOL Time Warner Inc to offer advanced instant messaging services without first requiring it to commit to interoperability. In a 3-2 vote, split long party lines, the FCC lifted conditions that obliged AOL to interoperate with two other IM providers before it could offer so-called 'advanced IM-based high-speed services' such as presence-aware videoconferencing," reports Computer Business Review.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is going to oblige users to upgrade to its latest IM protocol by October 15 or stop using the service, reports IDG News. The latest version requires an SSL log-on. Users of third-party IM clients such as Trillian will also, like many millions of Microsoft IM users, lose access until their client software is upgraded. There are links to the Microsoft Windows, Mac, CE etc upgrades here.
