Okay, this really ticks me off! According to this article on Infoworld.com, Yahoo plans to block third party Instant Messaging programs from using their services. But they're not in it alone "Microsoft last month said it is updating its MSN Messenger service in October. That update also is expected to lock out third-party IM clients. Microsoft cited a security issue, but also said it simply does not want third-party clients using its network without some form of compensation." Both believe that applications like this are using their networks to send advertisements to their users. WRONG! The reason I use Trillian is because I'm not bombarded with advertisements! Yahoo hammers my Yahoo client so much with their banner ads that I'm lucky to get a message through. Voice chat is certainly affected.

My partner Carolyn says this about it, "Man, what greed will do, huh? So what now ... they expect us to have five different programs running all the time. They don't get it. You know it took the orange juice folks years to figure out how to advertise together to get orange juice back on folks tables. If these guys would work together to push IM, they could really have some power, instead of fighting over who gets the bucket and who gets the shovel in their sandpile?????" I couldn't agree with her more. I use Yahoo, MSN, AIM and ICQ clients because I have folks from all of them wanting to contact me. I guess I have to allow myself to be bombarded by their junk and use up my computer's computing power with their bloated applications.

I guess it's time to get my own Instant Messaging program and cut them all out of the mix. Maybe it's time for Jabber to come out of the closet.