After years (literally) of waiting, AOL has finally decided to open up it’s instant messaging protocol to developers. Bottom line: programs like Trillian, GAIM, and Miranda IM are finally able to OFFICIALLY offer the AIM protocol with their client application. According to an article at Neowin, the announcement was quite unexpected as a message from an AOL IM developer posted a message on the Neowin forums.
From AOL, “Today is a historic day at AOL as we annouced, just moments ago, a software development kit for AOL Instant Messenger. Open AIM will empower you, as the developer, to write custom clients, plugins, and eventually bots. When you include this SDK with the web presence API and AIM Model-T (IAmAlpha, or AIM Modules) we are really starting to build compelling social development tools. The SDK will be available starting at 5AM EST today at developer.aim.com.”
