[TriLUG] Jabber server outage

Kevin Otte nivex at nivex.net
Sat Jun 11 15:24:02 EDT 2005


Joel Ebel wrote:
> Jabber at its core is quite different from IRC.  Jabber should really be
> called XMPP, which is an IETF standard defined by rfc 3920 and 3921.
> XMPP is the extensible messaging and presence protocol.  It is an open
> source alternative to the proprietary instant messaging systems in use,
> such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo, etc. and it has numerous advantages over them.
> 
> Notably it is decentralized, like our email system.  Anyone can run an
> xmpp server and communicate with any other server that has
> server-to-server communication enabled.  It can be made to be secure,
> with TLS or SSL on both the client-to-server and server-to-server links.
>  Plus it is extensible, as the X implies.  All sorts of things can be
> built on top of xmpp.

I think these two points, its open and decentralized nature, make for
wonderful marketing possibilities for those of us outside the open
source circles.  Imagine telling your AIM using friends that they don't
have to rely on BigMegaCorp to supply their IM jonesing.

The problem is people are resitiant to change.  Many of those
proprietary network users are locked in and are quite happy.  They don't
much care about the socio-political factors of their network.

You could always tell them Jabber doesn't have ads :)

> A common use of jabber is transports.  These are links to other
> messaging systems from your jabber account.  Unlike a multi-protocol
> client like GAIM, where you configure the client to log into each
> account, with jabber transports, you configure the server to log into
> each account for you when you log into your jabber account.  And your
> roster (buddy list) is always stored on the server, so wherever you log
> in from, you only have to use one login and password, and the server
> logs you into every other service for you, saving all of your contacts
> on the server.  This is great if you frequently log in from many
> different locations.  There are even IRC transports so you can use
> jabber to communicate over IRC.

This is the one thing that would really ease someone's migration to
Jabber.  On the other hand, many of today's clients (Trillian on
Windows, Gaim on Linux, ??? on the Mac) speak most of these protocols
natively.  Of course, I have yet to have my server side AIM buddy list
actually save properly.  My Jabber buddy list always Just Works (tm).

> I hope this gives you an idea of some of what Jabber can do.  Check out
> jabber.org, in particular the "What is Jabber?" link and the User FAQ if
> you want to learn more.  jabber.org is filled with great information
> about jabber.

I refereced this on my webpage back in 2003 when I tried the full court
press on all my friends to convert:

http://www.gravitystorm.co.uk/ramblings/jabberintro/

-- Kevin



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