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McCrea
06-05-2008, 02:42 AM
I'm just stating that removing all instances of "IM" from the project would make sense.

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messenger) states 'The term "instant messenger" is a service mark of Time Warner[3] and may not be used in software not affiliated with AOL in the United States. For this reason, the instant messaging client formerly known as Gaim or gaim announced in April 2007 that they would be renamed "Pidgin"' citing anther source along with http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/foia/ttab/decsum/2006/16jan06.pdf which states
'“INSTANTMESSENGER” and “AOL INSTANT MESSENGER” [both marks for:
in Class 38: telecommunications services, namely, electronic transmission of data, images and documents via computer terminals; electronic mail services; and facsimile transmission; in Class 39: electronic storage of data and documents]
“INSTANT MESSENGER” and “AOL INSTANT MESSENGER” [both marks for: in Class 42: computer services, namely, providing multiple user access to computer networks and bulletin boards and the transfer and dissemination of a wide range of information, providing a wide range of general interest information'

To make my motives clear, I personally hate Time Warner (my ISP) and AOL. Thus, I have never called these communication applications "messengers", let alone IMs (I call them 'chatters' *shrug*). I simply think this project would appear more professional and respectable if the community or leaders decided to substitute something else not affiliated with Time Warner for 'IM'.

("messengers" would simply be better, but would still irk me; again, I recall no one calling them messengers before AIM was released, not to mention "streaming" implementations (like ICQ) could be interpreted as sending characters, not "messages". But I am not proposing a specific solution here.)

I also found it to be cute that Jabber's common acronym page and technical specifications fail to define "IM".

Have a good one; nice to have met you.

zeller
06-05-2008, 01:55 PM
The official name for the Jabber protocol is XMPP, which stands for "Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol." So if the term IM is used, it is only by people trying to explain to those who do not understand what XMPP is, as XMPP can be used for much more than just IMing.

McCrea
06-06-2008, 07:13 AM
"So if the term IM is used, it is only by people trying to explain to those who do not understand what XMPP is."

That does not appear true.

Jabber for Geeks (http://www.jabber.org/jabber-for-geeks)
"To add your IM service to the services list..."
The geeks should know.

The RFC themselves (3920 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3920.txt) and 3921 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3921.txt)) use the terms "instant messaging" and "IM". Thus, XMPP has been defined as a protocol to provide instant messaging, and "instant message" has been found to be a service mark of Time Warner. It only requires minimal fuzzy logic to see that that means XMPP is a protocol in service of Time Warner.

Sorry if my point was, or remains, unclear.

florian
06-07-2008, 10:52 PM
Well, this is just as silly as the thing with Gaim (now known as Pidgin). Well, this forum is outside of the US, so I can safely say: I don't care :)