So, Google has an IM now. Nice that they are using Jabber, but it would be even nicer if their server talked to others too. Otherwise this is just another walled garden.

True, there’s an offer to federate with others, but this makes as much sense as having connection agreements between email servers. If they want a really open IM, then they should let their server work as Jabber was designed. Everyone can play and set up their own server.

On a different note, does anyone know of a good open source Jabber server that can actually handle 10k simultaneous connections and doesn’t go crazy every now and then?

Update: According to Joe Beda there are 3 reasons for staying close:

• Missing code needed for interoperability.
• They want to develop abuse/spam countermeasures.
• They want to ensure everybody really talks to everybody.

I can certainly sympathize with first reason, if true (and I have no reason to doubt it). But it’s harder to agree with other two.

You already have a contact authorization to limit such behavior. If this is not enough, the correct way would be to be as open as a lot of Jabber servers are and switch on protective measures after you’ve developed them together with Jabber community.

It also shouldn’t be up to Google to dictate how open other providers should be. That decision should be left with administrators of Jabber servers and they shouldn’t be coerced into Google’s policy. Basically they should keep the same freedom email server administrators enjoy right now.