Divorcing AIM After 10 Years (4 Reasons)
So, as anyone who IMs me on any regular basis already knows, I've given up on my AIM account -- and AIM in general. I was thinking about when, and why, my relationship with AOL really went south. These are some of my reasons, in no particular order.
- Chat logging: I'd have to say it all started when Google Talk integrated itself in to GMail and allowed for online logging of conversations. This is something AOL could have totally capitalized on and should have had from the very beginning. Rather than integrating itself with Bebo, AIM.com's social networking, and every other bloated AOL network site, it could have simply added an online component that allowed for the searching of chat logs. I get at least as much useful information in IM windows as I do in email conversations, why wouldn't I want to be able to archive and search these? Integrating them in to my email just makes things that much easier.
- Vanity Screen Names: I was a child of the screen name exploitation days of the late 90s, so I was sitting pretty with "andrw". That being said, the username meant nothing outside of AOL Instant Messenger. I didn't use AIM.com email, so when I gave you my screen name I wasn't giving you my email address. I didn't use that name on any other social networking sites, I'm usually "aleahey" on those. I didn't own andrw.com and my first name is not Andrw. The username only described me on that one service, and only allowed you to get ahold of me in one way -- IM. When I give out my Google Talk username (andrew at leahey dot org), I'm simultaneously telling you where you can IM me, email me, and where my website is located.
- Proprietary-phobia: AOL persisting in using its proprietary protocol OSCAR, or TOC, or whichever one they've moved to now, worries me. It wouldn't be the end of the world if everyone who knew me on AIM was suddenly not able to contact me, true, but it would be an annoyance I feel like I can avoid with Google Talk. My Google Talk username is, again, my name at my domain dot org, something that would be easily replicated with a replacement Jabber server should Google suddenly go belly-up. The same can't be said for AOL's service. AOL has made some moves towards openness in recent years, finally allowing third party applications official access to the servers, but I don't feel like that's enough. I get why Google runs the Talk server, to get me to Gmail, and to get me looking at ads. I don't get -- and have never gotten -- what stake AOL has in keeping the AIM servers up and running, other than keeping its brand name out there. Allowing third party applications to run on the servers makes it all too easy to forget what the A in AIM stands for. When that happens on a large scale, I have no faith whatsoever in AOL to keep the servers up and running. The same may happen with Google ten years hence, but their servers are just jabber, and since my username is just my email address, I can surely replicate that elsewhere.
- Privacy: With Google Talk, I feel like my status is more private. I know that users have to request authorization to add me to their contact list, and that makes my inner introvert happy. I have never been a fan of the idea that I was on dozens of buddylists on AOL for no other reason that to check my away messages, and read my profile from time to time. I may be the odd ball here, but I want to know I'm on your contact list, I want to know who is going to be reading the away message I put up.
That's just about it. I wish Google would perhaps add a Labs feature that allowed for the importing of standardly-formatted logs from other chat services, as I have countless megabytes of IM logs from years past just zipped up and awaiting a final resting place. As I said, I like that switching to Google Talk allows me to engage my wanderlust a little bit. I get sick of technologies and want to try out new services frequently; with Google Talk being somewhat standard Jabber, I feel like I can do that more readily and easily.
Posted 6 months ago
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