> For a certain core level of functionality, there should be regulations and laws in place that these apps all support a public and open protocol. They can have

> For a certain core level of functionality, there should be regulations and laws in place that these apps all support a public and open protocol. They can have their own, but I should be able to use imessage to send an IM to skype on the desktop. Historically, open protocols like this have had a major issue with spam. How does the Skype network verify that the iMessage IM is legitimate? What about the incoming IM from the TotallyNotAFrontForSpammers service? Email is pretty much the only fully open federated push protocol, and it is only able to handle spam via complex reputation based hacks and message inspection (which is a poor fit for IM). This is no different than requiring standard signalling on the wires during the era of landlines. With the level of spam phone calls I get these days, you may see why I'm not excited about using the phone system as a model!