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To: Boplicity who wrote (29584)	8/18/1999 4:37:00 PM
From: Roy F	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

Microsoft says will publish instant-messaging code August 18, 1999 03:53 PM SEATTLE, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. MSFT turned up the heat on Wednesday in its instant-messaging battle with America Online Inc.AOL , pledging to release software code this month in a step toward establishing a widely accepted Internet standard. Microsoft's decision to publish its MSN Messenger protocol was welcomed by a leader of the independent committee that has been working for two years to agree on a universal standard for the hugely popular way to communicate over the Internet. "It certainly is good news from the perspective of the work we have to do in our working group," said Vijay Saraswat, co-chairman of the Internet Engineering Task Force's instant-messaging working group. "It helps inform our process of coming up with an Internet-wide interoperable protocol, just as it would help us for all other vendors to publish protocols," he said. America Online is by far the dominant player in instant messaging, with more than 80 million users of its two systems, compared with about 5 million for No. 2. Tribal Voice Inc. and 1.3 million for MSN Messenger, launched last month. AOL officials were not immediately available for comment but recently have said they intend to work with the task force on creating a universal standard for the feature, which allows users to "chat" on line in real-time using instantaneously delivered text messages. But for now the online giant has been aggressive in blocking users of MSN Messenger and other rival systems from communicating with users of its AIM messaging system, calling that an unauthorized incursion into its server network. Saraswat said he had a brief conversation with an AOL executive this week but was unaware of any plans by the company to follow Microsoft's lead and document its messaging protocol. Publishing the software protocol allows other companies to create interoperable software and is the first step toward a universal standard. ((-- Seattle bureau, 206-386-4848; marty.wolk@reuters.com)) REUTERS