Microsoft and Yahoo have announced that they will be working together to allow users of their respective instant messaging clients, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, to interact with each other.
Both Microsoft and Yahoo have admitted that what their users want more than anything else is the ability to talk to friends who use different chat clients without needing to have multiple pieces of software running. We think that this is a pretty major step forward for both companies, who have always been rivals in the instant messaging marketplace.
It is possible of course that the advent of Google Talk has made these two companies slightly nervous, so any initiative to hang onto their userbase will be welcomed. However, Google Talk is still in its early stages, so is not really a major competitor yet.
It'll be interesting to see what the other instant messaging companies do about this alliance. Other major competitors include the popular AOL owned ICQ software, and of course, Google Talk. As ever, we'll keep you posted with developments.
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