A nostalgic reflection on the XMPP protocol's golden era around 2008, when it enabled interoperable messaging between major platforms like Google Talk, Facebook Messenger, and AIM. The author contrasts this open standard with modern decentralized platforms like Matrix and laments the current walled-garden approach of major tech companies.
Background
XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) is an open standard for real-time communication that enabled interoperability between different messaging services during the late 2000s. Major platforms like Google Talk and Facebook Messenger once supported XMPP federation before moving to closed systems.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Apr 19, 2026 at 11:27 PM
- Score
- 5.0 / 10