| Lily | AIM | YIM | MSN Msg | IRC | Jabber | feature |
|---|
| - | - | - | - | X | X | login with no prior account |
| - | X | X | X | X | X | entirely self-service account creation |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | addressable public name separate from account name |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | public name reservation |
| X | 6 | X | X | 2 | 6 | authenticated connections |
| - | X | ? | ? | - | X | secure (non trivially obfuscated) authentication available |
| X | - | ? | ? | 2 | ? | encrypted connections |
| - | X | ? | ? | - | ? | authenticated conversations (server can not MITM) |
| 1 | X | ? | ? | 1 | ? | encrypted conversations (server can not eavesdrop) |
| X | - | - | - | X | ? | supports multitarget messages |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | preserves addressing in multitarget messages |
| X | X | X | 1 | X | ? | private messages |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | persistent discussions |
| X | - | - | - | X | ? | searchable discussions |
| X | X | X | X | X | ? | unsearchable discussions |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | notification of discussion creation |
| X | - | - | - | X | ? | membership-moderated discussions |
| ? | - | - | - | X | ? | voice-moderated discussions |
| X | X | X | X | X | ? | notification when users join/part discussions |
| - | X | X | X | X | ? | list of members can be hidden from nonmembers |
| X | - | - | - | X | ? | list of members can be made available to nonmembers |
| X | - | - | - | - | X | review buffers for private messages |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | review buffers for discussions |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | searchable review buffers |
| X | X | - | - | 2 | ? | built-in games |
| X | - | - | - | - | ? | user memos |
| X | X | X | X | - | ? | user info/profile |
| X | 4 | X | X | 5 | X | reliable presence notification/state tracking |
| ? | X | X | X | - | ? | ability to selectively block state tracking |
| - | X | X | X | - | ? | ability to selectively block state polling |
| X | - | - | - | 2 | ? | discussion memos |
| - | X | X | X | ? | ? | searchable by google desktop |
| X | X | X | X | X | X | console client available |
| X | X | X | X | X | X | GUI client available |
| X | X | X | ? | ? | ? | browser applet client available |
| 1 | X | ? | ? | 1 | ? | DCC (direct client to client) messages |
| X | - | - | - | X | X | self-contained private community server |
| X | - | - | - | X | X | server source code available |
| X | - | - | - | 2 | ? | runtime upgradable server |
| X | - | - | - | 3 | ? | responsive, courteous, professional developers |
[1] Not directly provided by the protocol, but not prohibited either; known to be supported by at least one client.
[2] Not specified by the protocol, but not prohibited either; known to be supported by at least one server.
[3] No direct support channel has been established for any major
IRC networks, but their [network's] developers don't hide.
[4] Users added to your "buddy list" are tracked reliably unless they opt to enable the "Invisibility" feature.
[5] Only users that are in at least one common discussion are tracked reliably relative to each other.
[6] AIM and Jabber accounts can be "federated", allowing uncontrolled end sites to authenticate namespaced accounts (typically presented in the form of an email address).
See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messengers and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_protocols.
FeaturesThatMustExistInAnyLilyReplacement - If we
were to replace lily with another server, what would we have to do?
--
JeffR - 13 Jan 2006
This table could have a feature-row for "user status", but that covers so many different things. "Here/away", user blurbs, "current itunes song" (in iChat). By "status" I mean features that track some dynamically-changing attribute for users (and discussions?). These being a separate matter from static user-info, such as the values in /info or /finger (which in lily now even includes locations !).
And I'm sure we could easily add more columns to this. There's rowboat for one, which several long-time lily users have worked on (off-and-on) for a long time. There's apparently also JMS (which I know nothing about), as mentioned at http://jdj.sys-con.com/read/171024.htm .
I think it's kind of awkward to build/maintain a table like this in TWiki, although after a few rounds of trial-and-error I think I've come up with a way to reformat the source of this page. It should now a bit easier to modify entries the table.
Wouldn't that last entry be
"professional developers, who sometimes take years to make an official release"
?
--
GaranceDrosehn - 13 Jan 2006
to top