XMPP (Jabber)

Experience Level: Expert

I was highly involved with jabber through its initial inception. I came across Jabber in late 1999 while looking to write my own ICQ client. Jabber was a great up and coming protocol, picking up speed very quickly. I pushed out three versions of my Jabber client "Rival Messenger."

From Jabber, I worked with a team of developers on a new protocol that solved some of the short comings of XMPP as a non-binary protocol. This protocol was used internally and for the Singlesnet IM client.

Things I like about Jabber

  • It's Simple. All you need is a socket and an XML parser.
  • It has high saturation on the internet. Google, AOL, Facebook, etc. all support the XMPP protocol.

Things I don't like about Jabber

  • The file transfer problem has yet to be addressed. Ten years after I joined the Jabber community, this issue still hasn't been solved.
  • XMPP became a standard and became a game of politics. Jabber used to be a fun "hackathon." Now it is structured and there is less promotion of discovery or playing around in the protocol.