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AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is a instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997. Stand-alone official AIM client software includes advertisements and is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Linux. The software, maintained by AOL, LLC, has a large share of the instant messaging market, especially in the United States (with 52% of the total reported as of 2006).[1]
HistoryIn 1994, AOL Employee Barry Appelman hired programmer Stephen D. William and for five months they worked together building a prototype system that allowed AOL subscribers to have an early form of the buddy list and instant messenger.[2] In 1995, AIM was launched internally to AOL employees. It was initially dubbed "the stalker feature" since many employees were uncomfortable having their co-workers know when they were online. AOL decided to make AIM available to its subscribers in May 1997.[2] Since version 2.0, AIM has included person-to-person instant messaging, chatroom messaging, and the ability to share files Peer-to-peer with one's buddies. Version 4.3 introduced the storing of one's contact list on AOL's servers and allowed for a maximum of 200 buddies to be stored. In addition, somewhere in the 4.x versions, the AIM client for Microsoft Windows added the ability to play games against one another using the Wild Tangent engine. The first version released with WildTangent did not warn the user that it was going to be installed. Newer versions do, due to the fact that many spyware scanners flag the WildTangent software as spyware.[3] AIM version 5.5 allowed Windows users to video conference with each other and with users of Apple, Inc.'s previously released iChat. Later updates led the version of AIM to version 5.9. Apple's iChat is now running on far more Macs than the older AIM 5.9. The successor to AIM version 5.9 was originally named AIM Triton. Compared with version 5.9, Triton's programming code was rewritten and featured a brand new UI engine called Boxely. The first beta version of Triton (0.1.12) supported only Windows XP[4] upon its release. For the first time in the development of a new version of AIM, these preliminary versions were made publicly available on the AIM home page for any user to test and provide feedback. On September 29, 2006, Triton was renamed to AIM 6.0 and a new beta version was made available. This version again changed the UI (albeit slightly). The final stable version of AIM 6.0 was released on December 15; new features included connection to AIM Pages, additional customization, and compatibility with address book programs and sites through a "Universal Address Book" powered by Plaxo. Additionally, the upgrade unified away messages and general user updates into RSS feeds and added the ability to send messages to offline users. Certain features that were missing from the previous version were also re-added, such as global font customization and a smaller cache usage, although the Get File function has yet to return. Also new in this release was the opening of AIM to developers, which allowed anyone to create plug-ins or custom AIM clients for Windows, Macintosh, or Linux. The next version, 6.1, added Buddy List docking, support for inserting images into Buddy Info, the ability to change the highlight colors of the UI, improvements to the displaying of Linked Screen Names, several bug fixes, and improved Windows Vista support. Version 6.5.11.1 supports status messages (similar to away messages), and has improved cell phone integration.[5] ProtocolThe standard protocol that AIM clients use to communicate is called OSCAR. Most AOL-produced versions of AIM and popular third party AIM clients use this protocol. However, AOL also created a simpler protocol called TOC that lacks many of OSCAR's features but is sometimes used for clients that only require basic chat functionality. The TOC/TOC2 protocol specifications were made available by AOL, while OSCAR is a closed protocol that third parties have had to reverse-engineer. In January 2008, AOL introduced XMPP support for AIM,[6] allowing AIM users to communicate using the standardized, open-source Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. However, in March 2008 this service was discontinued. TerminologyAIM and AOL use several terms for elements of their instant messaging, which are different from other messengers. These include:
VersionsThe official versions of the AIM software are as follows: Note: This list may be incomplete.
PrivacyAIM is different from other clients such as Yahoo Messenger in that it does not require approval from one buddy to be added to another's buddy list. As a result, it is possible for users to keep other unsuspecting users on their buddy list to see when they are online, read their status and away messages, and read their profiles. However, one can block another user from communicating and also enhance privacy by selecting a menu option allowing communication only with those on one's buddy list. BotsAOL and various other companies supply robots on AIM that can receive messages and send a response based on the bot's purpose. For example, bots can help with studying, like StudyBuddy. Some are made to relate to children and teenagers, like Spleak, others give advice, and others are for more general purposes, such as SmarterChild. Prior to the inclusions of such bots, the bots DoorManBot and AIMOffline provided features that are provided today by AOL for those who needed it. URI scheme
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