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AOL Instant
Messenger (AIM) is an instant messaging and
presence computer program which uses the
proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and
the TOC protocol to allow registered users to
communicate in real time.
AOL Instant Messenger was released by America
Online (AOL) in May 1997. Stand-alone official
AIM client software includes advertisements and
is available for Microsoft Windows, Windows
Mobile, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Android, iOS,
BlackBerry OS. The software, maintained by AOL,
Inc., at one time had the largest share of the
instant messaging market in North America,
especially in the United States (with 52% of the
total reported as of 2006). This does not
include other instant messaging software related
to or developed by AOL, such as ICQ and iChat.
The standard protocol that AIM clients use to
communicate is called Open System for
CommunicAtion in Realtime (OSCAR). Most
AOL-produced versions of AIM and popular third
party AIM clients use this protocol. However,
AOL also created a simpler protocol called TOC
that lacks many of OSCAR's features but is
sometimes used for clients that only require
basic chat functionality. The TOC/TOC2 protocol
specifications were made available by AOL, while
OSCAR is a closed protocol that third parties
have had to reverse-engineer.
In January 2008, AOL introduced experimental
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)
support for AIM, allowing AIM users to
communicate using the standardized, open-source
XMPP. However, in March 2008, this service was
discontinued. As of May 2011, AOL offers limited
XMPP support. |
