In his academic writings, Vijay Saraswat emphasizes that IM is about people . Once technologists have sorted out the essential details, IM's back end will become a platform, he insists, with customers recognizing only the user interface brands and functions. This is indeed the same itinerary that email has followed. For all intents and purposes, email is universally available - at least in terms of the present commercial economy. We know how to deploy and scale it.
Users have relatively realistic expectations about how it works, and how well.
Email, in short, is a platform. Ongoing engineering work is needed to make that platform more reliable, of course. The marketplace assumes we'll sort out the technical details of interoperation between automotive GPS receivers, high schoolers' pocket pagers, and refrigerators needing replenishment for tonight's dinner party. As long as it works, says Joe User, let someone else decide who rides the IM gravy train. That should suit AOL just fine.