Thanks to dmitchell for this
link.
“In the latest battle over a hot communications market, it
is Microsoft Corp. that has become a force for open-technology
standards.”
“The software giant, along with other big Internet players, is
attempting to pry open America Online Inc.’s near-lock on the
market for instant messaging…”
“AOL, the leader in online services, responded by blocking the
competitors’ access to its network. Microsoft, which first
distributed its messaging software Thursday, has been forced twice
to modify its software to get around AOL’s blockade. Prodigy and
Yahoo, which used a different technique to communicate with AOL
users, haven’t been able to reconnect, and are joining Microsoft
and industry-standards groups to push for technical ground rules
for messaging.”