iChat will not only get MSN capabilities etc. but far more importantly it will become a full working Voip platform.
The last part of that dream may very well (and I hope so) come true, but very little hard evidence points in the direction of direct msn integration in iChat. I think Apple will keep it a closed AIM/iChat/jabber circuit. At the most iChat may work better with Googletalk.
In the real world of messenger/voip applications, MS and Yahoo are strongly allied against AIM, Skype and the rest. Skype keeps a closed network, is growing stronger each day and seemingly doesn't feel any need to let Apple in on the cake. All Apple can do is to tack on to the AIM side of that battle, or re-align with MS. The last option seems unlikely given how MS uses their messenger to keep users away from the Mac platform. Lastly, Apple could choose to hack into the ms-network like Adium, Gaim, etc, but that would probably not be seen as a very friendly move from Microsoft.
So Apple will most probably stay with supporting AIM and improve support for extensions to the open source Jabber protocols that at least give some kind of support for the MS messenger protocols via plugins. We may also see support for video chat with Googletalk users, but that is still a very small market.
Comments
iChat will not only get MSN capabilities etc. but far more importantly it will become a full working Voip platform.
The last part of that dream may very well (and I hope so) come true, but very little hard evidence points in the direction of direct msn integration in iChat. I think Apple will keep it a closed AIM/iChat/jabber circuit. At the most iChat may work better with Googletalk.
In the real world of messenger/voip applications, MS and Yahoo are strongly allied against AIM, Skype and the rest. Skype keeps a closed network, is growing stronger each day and seemingly doesn't feel any need to let Apple in on the cake. All Apple can do is to tack on to the AIM side of that battle, or re-align with MS. The last option seems unlikely given how MS uses their messenger to keep users away from the Mac platform. Lastly, Apple could choose to hack into the ms-network like Adium, Gaim, etc, but that would probably not be seen as a very friendly move from Microsoft.
So Apple will most probably stay with supporting AIM and improve support for extensions to the open source Jabber protocols that at least give some kind of support for the MS messenger protocols via plugins. We may also see support for video chat with Googletalk users, but that is still a very small market.
then release it all on windows. now THAT would be truely amazing.
That's the idea, how else would it be a success? iTunes for Windows = great things, iChat for Windows = great possibilities.