It is amazing that we still have major instant messaging platforms that don’t talk to one another. Yahoo and Microsoft got their two systems to work with each other more than a year ago, but AOL is still working on interoperability issues with those two.
In the meantime, it looks like AIM will soon be working just fine with Google Talk, Google’s IM client. In fact, AIM and GTalk are already talking to each other in tests, reports Google Operating System (see screen shot).
If this gets rolled out to regular users, there will soon be two major IM camps: Yahoo-Microsoft and Google-AOL. It’s funny how a $1 billion investment gets things moving along.
Of course, you can always use Meebo, which has somehow figured out how translate between AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and GTalk (but not Skype).
Update: As has been pointed out in comments, it appears from this screen shot that you actually have to sign into AIM from GTalk, which isn’t as seamless an experience as you’d like (.i.e. not true interoperability) , but better than nothing. And, yes, Meebo works the same way.