Tech Talk

[lonewolf]

Microsoft and Yahoo announced on Wednesday a blockbuster interoperability deal that will reshape the landscape of the fragmented instant messaging market. The companies will connect their IM networks so users on each can communicate with one another using text and voice chat free of charge.

Starting in the second quarter of 2006, customers of both services will be able to see their friends' online presence, share emoticons, and add new contacts from either Yahoo! Messenger or MSN Messenger to their buddy list.

The agreement marks the first time major players in the highly-competitive IM industry have officially partnered up to enable cross-network communication. Interoperability has always been a hot topic among instant messaging providers, but had never yielded a compromise.

In 1999, Microsoft connected its MSN Messenger client to AOL's AIM network - without authorization. The move let to a cat-and-mouse game of AOL cutting off its new competitor and MSN re-establishing communication with each update. Microsoft eventually gave up and focused on improving its client.

Such disparate messaging networks led to the creation of third party clients with the ability to connect to each simultaneously. AOL and others were initially critical of applications like Trillian, but eventually backed down and ceased efforts to block the newcomers.

"IM interoperability is the right thing for our customers, our businesses and the industry as a whole, and Microsoft is delighted to help lead these efforts with Yahoo," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a statement.

"This is truly a turning point for the IM industry," added Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, "and we believe our agreement with Microsoft will help usher in a new era of IP communications."

[ycr007]

Good news.......users will now expect to get the 'best of both worlds'



hope it does'nt take an eternity for it to materialise

[ycr007]

Anyone uses Yahoo POPS?

I'm thinking of using it but thot would be better to get a few opinions before proceeding! Any Suggestions?

YPOPs! is an application that provides POP3 access to Yahoo! Mail. It is available o­n the Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac platforms.

Yahoo! Mail disabled free access to its POP3 service o­n 24th April, 2002. This application emulates a POP3 server and enables popular email clients like Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, Mozilla, etc., to download email from Yahoo! accounts. We do not go against the license agreements of Yahoo! Mail. This application is completely legitimate and well within the realms of legal software.

How do we do it you ask? Well, this application is more like a gateway. It provides a POP3 server interface at o­ne end to talk to email clients and an HTTP client (browser) interface at the other which allows it to talk to Yahoo!

YPOPs! was inspired by a Perl script called FetchYahoo written by Ravi Ramkissoon.

Homepage

[HH]

Math Will Rock Your World

A generation ago, quants turned finance upside down. Now they're mapping out ad campaigns and building new businesses from mountains of personal data

Neal Goldman is a math entrepreneur. He works on Wall Street, where numbers rule. But he's focusing his analytic tools on a different realm altogether: the world of words.

Goldman's startup, Inform Technologies LLC, is a robotic librarian. Every day it combs through thousands of press articles and blog posts in English. It reads them and groups them with related pieces. Inform doesn't do this work alphabetically or by keywords. It uses algorithms to analyze each article by its language and context. It then sends customized news feeds to its users, who also exist in Inform's system as -- you guessed it -- math. ...

This mathematical modeling of humanity promises to be one of the great undertakings of the 21st century. It will grow in scope to include much of the physical world as mathematicians get their hands on new flows of data, from atmospheric sensors to the feeds from millions of security cameras. It's a parallel world that's taking shape, a laboratory for innovation and discovery composed of numbers, vectors, and algorithms. "We turn the world of content into math, and we turn you into math," says Howard Kaushansky, CEO of Boulder (Colo.)-based Umbria Inc., a company that uses math to analyze marketing trends online. ...

Visit:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 968001.htm

[VJ]

Hi Tech Guys,



I have a serious problem here. All my emails, chat on messengers, my computer is intercepted and its creating a serious problem in my personal life and also on my other activities. Does anyone know how to protect oneself from being intercepted? For ur information I use the tools like ZoneAlarm as firewall, McAfee for Antivirus, Spyware Doctor, Registry Mechanic etc.



Are there any kind of tools for protecting from being intercepted? Or Is there any way to sort this out? If there is anyone who experienced the same problem pls let me know how to sort it out........



@VJ

[HH]

Hi friends,
A quick question. Has anybody evaluated or worked on the two Automation Tools
TestPartner and QTP ?

I am in the process of evaluating and suggesting a good Automation Tool for my Organization.
Wanted to know how good these tools are.

I have understood the framework for TestPartner. Sounds reasonably good.
But still wanted to know if QTP is better than TestPartner

eMail



Over to the Techies of FH!