IMsmarter.com is a service designed to add GMail-style functions to your IM conversations, by setting up a proxy service that archives all your IM conversations, making them persistent, accessible from multiple clients, searchable, combinable, etc. (They also have a blog feature, where you can set up a blog through the service, and sub to blogs created by other IMsmarter users, but that feels added-on and irrelevant compared to the main offering.)
I’ve only been playing with it a while, and it’s still clunky in parts (search, for example, only searches the text of a conversation, but not the username, so when I say “Hmm, I was talking to Alex, and he said something about…” I can’t (or can’t find a way to) search on his name directly.
Architecturally, though, it’s another turn of the centralization/decentralization screw, where adding a centralized server upstream of a P2Pish app like IM creates novel value. And by using a proxy, which is a pretty low-level tool, they get to be platform and client-agnostic, since most clients have to support proxying to deal with firewalls.
To be determined: whether AOL tries to kill it. That, more than any subsequent features, will determine its success or failure.
1. Zbigniew Lukasiak on November 8, 2004 12:44 PM writes...
But archiving, indexing, searching etc. can be done on the client side. It seems like technically the service does not gain anything from the centralization and it is only a business model.
Permalink to Comment2. Michael Moncur on November 8, 2004 2:45 PM writes...
If it "works with all major IM networks" and proxies all of your IMs, why not make it act as a convergence point for all of the incompatible IM systems? There's a potential gain.
Permalink to Comment3. Sascha Carlin on November 8, 2004 5:25 PM writes...
Zbigniew, I fully agree with you. But, as Michael points out, there could be something about this service.
Even if personally I do not think that I would use a centralised system instead of something beautiful as Jabber.
Permalink to Comment4. Charlie O'Donnell on November 8, 2004 6:16 PM writes...
SEC-regulated investment advisors have already started implementing IM indexers... because all client communication is supposed to be monitored. As a compliance tool, this isn't new... good comments on the search function,though.
Permalink to Comment5. David Weekly on November 9, 2004 7:04 PM writes...
Hi! Thanks for your comments on my service. I agree that many parts of the interface are clunky. But it is possible to search within chats with just one person - click on their handle on the front page and you may notice that the "Search Chats" box at the top now has a pulldown letting you choose between searching chats "with [handle]" or "with all users".
As for the criticisms that centralizing IM search is meaningless; I would (naturally) beg to differ. Many people IM from work, school, and/or home and would like the ability to search and review all of their chat logs in one place - IM Smarter is the only way for them to currently do this.
But more importantly, IM Smarter is not actually about search. That's the initial hook, the dead-obvious first-order application. The fun stuff starts with the next release when we beef up the notification architecture. Imagine getting an IM notification when your package status changes. Already you can set a reminder via Yahoo Messenger from work to bug you at 5:30pm to call your dad, then sign in at home using AIM and get the reminder on time. IM Smarter is about creating a next-generation platform for IM services; in a way, it's like giving users a command line for the Internet.
I would really love your continued comments and criticisms; it's only by pointing out what sucks and what can be made better that the service will evolve to something that truly empowers users.
Humbly Yours,
Permalink to CommentDavid Weekly
Founder of IM Smarter
6. joe on November 10, 2004 1:27 PM writes...
It sounds pretty good, I think I would be willing to use it for a while to see if it's all that.
Permalink to Comment7. OlivierSeres on November 10, 2004 8:07 PM writes...
What garantee do we have our IM conversations are not listen for any purpose ?
Permalink to Comment8. Ragnar Schierholz on November 21, 2004 1:32 PM writes...
That's an issue that I am worried about as well. In my point of view, privacy perservation is one of the main issues in electronic relationships, be it personal or commercial relationships.
Permalink to CommentPlus, are you thinking of proxying not only between me and the original IM servers (i.e. forwarding the packages as is) but also between me and other protocols (i.e. translating the packages from one to another protocol)?
Now, that'd be something... :-)