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> What happened with XMPP? There never was meaningful money behind it. It seems the only way a protocol can ever grow today is by having for-profit companies s

by rakoo 4y ago

> What happened with XMPP? There never was meaningful money behind it. It seems the only way a protocol can ever grow today is by having for-profit companies sponsoring its development, doing the marketing, pushing it to individuals, companies and public services. That's not too hard to understand: at some point you need people working on it, and in a capitalistic society you need to pay them, and thus you need to somehow make money. Even with all the goodwill and proper licenses and all, you need massive humanpower. Google, Whatsapp, Fcaebook all used a form of XMPP but never intended to propel it as a federated protocol, only for their own usage.

amysox 4y ago
Well, I can't say we didn't try. I remember how excited my boss, Andre, was when he discovered the Jabber protocol. He convinced Webb Interactive to spin off Jabber.com as a subsidiary, and I went with him. Our first space was the former office of Webb's chairman, with four of us in there. Later, when the company moved from Glenarm Street to Wynkoop Street, we had part of the floor above Webb's floor. I spent a lot of time working on the bridge from Jabber to ICQ, which was always kind of touchy. And we did have a nice booth at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference in Monterey. Then came the dot-com crash, and Andre was forced to lay off a bunch of people, including me. He didn't want to do it; I think he was as much in tears as I was. Eventually, I understand, Jabber.com was bought by Cisco. And Webb Interactive eventually kind of sputtered out. I had some rough times, but I'm doing a lot better now after a bunch of other job moves (not to mention a gender transition). Andre's got Ping Identity now, and he's finally having the kind of success he deserves.
- rakoo 4y ago
  Oh I'm sure some companies did try, and probably even deserved success, but like all businesses there's always a question of chance involved. Maybe your company was too early to the game, trying to push computer communications when not enough people used computers in the first place; I don't know. But I would have loved to have had a proper communication protocol 10 years ago instead of doing the same thing over and over and over again, even today.

by rakoo 4y ago

amysox 4y ago

Well, I can't say we didn't try. I remember how excited my boss, Andre, was when he discovered the Jabber protocol. He convinced Webb Interactive to spin off Jabber.com as a subsidiary, and I went with him. Our first space was the former office of Webb's chairman, with four of us in there. Later, when the company moved from Glenarm Street to Wynkoop Street, we had part of the floor above Webb's floor. I spent a lot of time working on the bridge from Jabber to ICQ, which was always kind of touchy. And we did have a nice booth at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference in Monterey. Then came the dot-com crash, and Andre was forced to lay off a bunch of people, including me. He didn't want to do it; I think he was as much in tears as I was. Eventually, I understand, Jabber.com was bought by Cisco. And Webb Interactive eventually kind of sputtered out. I had some rough times, but I'm doing a lot better now after a bunch of other job moves (not to mention a gender transition). Andre's got Ping Identity now, and he's finally having the kind of success he deserves.

rakoo 4y ago
Oh I'm sure some companies did try, and probably even deserved success, but like all businesses there's always a question of chance involved. Maybe your company was too early to the game, trying to push computer communications when not enough people used computers in the first place; I don't know. But I would have loved to have had a proper communication protocol 10 years ago instead of doing the same thing over and over and over again, even today.