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0 pointslucideer3y ago0 comments

> We actually had chat interoperability between all the major social networks

No we didn't - XMPP is a federated protocol & none of the major networks ever supported federation. The XMPP protocol came with a lot of decently implemented open source packages that helped those companies get their chat systems off the ground & to a point where they could lock them in. Supporting federation from the beginning would've made that lock in much more difficult, so it wasn't in their interest. i.e. a capitalist disincentive.

Capitalism is the problem, you're just doing your best to find excuses for it elsewhere.

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2 comments · 2 top-level

cmdrk3y ago

It can be a little bit of both.

For what it's worth, for a time Google Chat federated other XMPP services and it worked just fine. They eventually shut that down for $GOOGLE_REASONS.

Companies aggressively going after open source 3rd party clients caused interoperability to suffer greatly. Mandating open standards can help mitigate the most user-unfriendly parts, which often turns out to be the "business model".

ryukafalz3y ago

> XMPP is a federated protocol & none of the major networks ever supported federation.

Google Talk did. It was the only one, though, so GP's assertion that multiple major networks did is indeed incorrect.

But we came closer to federation between big players than you're implying. One more would have done it.

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