olympum

AOL has published the protocol powering both AIM and ICQ (code-named OSCAR). Although the protocol was already well known through reverse engineering, even if it’s significantly more complex and chatty than MSN’s or YMSG, this is really good news since it formalizes AOL supporting third party clients, including Yamigo. Additionally, besides publishing the protocol documentation, AOL has released an AIM SDK for C/C++ and Java, and the ability for creating protocol plugins that can even be monetized through revenue-sharing with AOL. Altogether, a good move from AOL.