layout: post title: Jabber's JINGLE comes out of the closet in time for the holidays created: 1134822986 categories:

• jabber
• JINGLE
• XMPP
• JEP
• press release
• IM
• Open Source

Sorry, couldn't resist the Christmas themed title. What am I talking about? Well, the JINGLE press release* came out yesterday, announcing the official Jabber Extensions Protocols (JEPs) for doing multimedia over Jabber, or XMPP as the IETF approved protocol is officially known.

Here's the part where we learn that this is in reality a way for everyone to plug into Google Talk:

The Jingle technology represents an open version of the protocols used in the popular Google Talk application released in August 2005, and Google is supporting the standardization and evolution of these protocols through the JSF's community standards process.

The two JEPs cover signalling and the specific format for audio sessions. There is running code for interoperability with Asterisk's IAX protocol, and SIP and H.323 is in the works.

I've long turned up my nose at the primarily telco driven (with the notable exception of Microsoft) SIMPLE spec, an attempt to add presence and text messaging to SIP. Now XMPP has turned the tables, and gone after SIP. Well, actually, I don't believe that SIP will go away -- it has emerged as the core way to ship VoIP around networks -- but I think we can close the lid on SIMPLE.

What else is going on? Well, let's look at some related happenings. Kedrosky reports that Meebo, a web-based IM system, got some major money. Tim Bray points to Adium, a multi-platform IM client for OS X, as an example of what a great application looks like. Oh, right, Adium is based around the Gaim library, which brings us full circle, since the name of that library is on the press release from Jabber.

What's next? Well, for me, I'm flying to Missoula, Montana, where some of us are going to try and figure out what this all means, and what we're going to put together. Identity, presence, guaranteed delivery, security, voice...there are a bunch of applications of this technology waiting out there, we're going to take a crack at figuring out what's right.

* no RSS for the press section? Come on guys, get a real content management system.