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Google Talk absolutely federated: http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/01/xmpp-federation.html http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/01/xmpp-federation.html Unfor

Google Talk absolutely federated: http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/01/xmpp-federation.html http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/01/xmpp-federation.html Unfortunately they were the only major service provider to do so, and the capability was later discontinued.

e12e 9y ago
[ed: aha! They didn't really support federation in a standards compliant way: "However, since the Google Talk Service does not support server-to-server encryption via TLS (something that was required by RFC 3920 in 2004), a number of servers (including jabber.org) refuse to establish a connection since May 2014." https://xmpp.org/2015/03/no-its-not-the-end-of-xmpp-for-google-talk/ https://xmpp.org/2015/03/no-its-not-the-end-of-xmpp-for-goog... I recall there were issues...] Wait, what? You could chat from you@example.com on your bespoke xmpp server and send messages to user@gmail without needing a Google account and vice-versa? Was Google talk really so unpopular that I didn't seriously try to use it until it became the walled garden that didn't support server federation?
- jkarneges 9y ago
  > Wait, what? You could chat from you@example.com on your bespoke xmpp server and send messages to user@gmail without needing a Google account and vice-versa? For some glorious years between 2006 and 2013 (Hangouts), this was indeed possible. I run my own XMPP server and I used to chat with GTalk users all the time. For literally years. > They didn't really support federation in a standards compliant way It was standards compliant enough. In the original RFC, server-to-server TLS was mandatory to implement but not mandatory to enable/deploy. The XMPP community later moved towards enforced server-to-server encryption, but this was many years later and had little impact on GTalk federation during the time that it was supported.
  - zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 9y ago
    Actually, it still worked for existing contacts until half a year or so ago, when they seem to have silently dropped it completely (I haven't really investigated, contacts I had on google simply moved to other servers, that fixed that).
  - e12e 9y ago
    I remember looking into it, and discovering that it didn't work in a sane way (ie: no server tls support). Why would I want to expose traffic unencrypted? Especially considering dangerous content, like attachments etc. Now I see that Ms allows federation for on-premise lync - but not for office 365. :-( Everyone wants their own silo, and force their multitude of awful clients on people.

e12e 9y ago

[ed: aha! They didn't really support federation in a standards compliant way: "However, since the Google Talk Service does not support server-to-server encryption via TLS (something that was required by RFC 3920 in 2004), a number of servers (including jabber.org) refuse to establish a connection since May 2014." https://xmpp.org/2015/03/no-its-not-the-end-of-xmpp-for-google-talk/ https://xmpp.org/2015/03/no-its-not-the-end-of-xmpp-for-goog... I recall there were issues...] Wait, what? You could chat from you@example.com on your bespoke xmpp server and send messages to user@gmail without needing a Google account and vice-versa? Was Google talk really so unpopular that I didn't seriously try to use it until it became the walled garden that didn't support server federation?

jkarneges 9y ago
> Wait, what? You could chat from you@example.com on your bespoke xmpp server and send messages to user@gmail without needing a Google account and vice-versa? For some glorious years between 2006 and 2013 (Hangouts), this was indeed possible. I run my own XMPP server and I used to chat with GTalk users all the time. For literally years. > They didn't really support federation in a standards compliant way It was standards compliant enough. In the original RFC, server-to-server TLS was mandatory to implement but not mandatory to enable/deploy. The XMPP community later moved towards enforced server-to-server encryption, but this was many years later and had little impact on GTalk federation during the time that it was supported.
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 9y ago
  Actually, it still worked for existing contacts until half a year or so ago, when they seem to have silently dropped it completely (I haven't really investigated, contacts I had on google simply moved to other servers, that fixed that).
- e12e 9y ago
  I remember looking into it, and discovering that it didn't work in a sane way (ie: no server tls support). Why would I want to expose traffic unencrypted? Especially considering dangerous content, like attachments etc. Now I see that Ms allows federation for on-premise lync - but not for office 365. :-( Everyone wants their own silo, and force their multitude of awful clients on people.