Information AboutJabber |
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Jabber is a collection of Open , XML -based protocols for Instant Messaging and Presence Information . Jabber-based software is deployed on thousands of servers across the Internet and is used by over ten million people worldwide, according to the Jabber Software Foundation {Link without Title} . HISTORY Jeremie Miller began the project in 1998 ; its first major public release occurred in May 2000 . The project's main product was Jabberd , a Jabber Server . The basis of the Jabber Protocol , now managed by the Jabber Software Foundation , has been accepted by the IETF in October 2004 as a standards-track protocol under the name XMPP , with RFC 3920. It has often been regarded as being in competition with SIMPLE , based on the SIP protocol, as the standard protocol for instant messaging and presence notification; however, the design of XMPP is intended to provide a more general-purpose XML-based inter-application middleware facility. In 2005 , about half a dozen XMPP server software implementations written in different programming languages and targeting different use cases exist. In August 2005 Google introduced Google Talk , a combination VoIP and IM system which uses Jabber/XMPP for its instant messaging function. The initial launch did not include server-to-server communications, but as of January 17 , 2006 , it has server-to-server communications enabled. FEATURES ; Open Standard : The Jabber protocols are free, open, public, and easily understandable; you will never get "locked in" when you use Jabber technologies. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has formalized the core XML streaming protocols as an approved instant messaging and presence technology under the name of XMPP, and the XMPP specifications have been published as RFC 3920 and RFC 3921. A wide range of companies and open-source projects use the Jabber protocols to build and deploy real-time applications and services ; Proven : The first Jabber technologies were developed by Jeremie Miller in 1998 and are now quite stable; hundreds of developers are working on Jabber technologies, there are tens of thousands of Jabber servers running on the Internet today, and millions of people use Jabber for IM. In addition, multiple implementations exist for clients, servers, components, and code libraries. ; Decentralized : The architecture of the Jabber network is similar to email; as a result, anyone can run their own Jabber server, enabling individuals and organizations to take control of their IM experience. ; Secure : Any Jabber server may be isolated from the public Jabber network (e.g., on a company intranet), and robust security using SASL and TLS has been built into the core XMPP specifications. ; Flexible : Using the power of XML namespaces, anyone can build custom functionality on top of the core protocols; to maintain interoperability, common extensions are managed by the Jabber Software Foundation. Jabber applications beyond IM include network management, content syndication, collaboration tools, file sharing, gaming, and remote systems monitoring. CRITICISMS One of the reasons potential end-users do not adopt Jabber is that all of their IM contacts use proprietary networks, a Chicken Or Egg problem. Instant messaging networks are subject to the Network Effect and are only useful if there is someone with which to chat. Google initially launched their Google Talk service with server-to-server communications disabled because they were worried about potential spam. Without a central point to block spam, many people worry that Messaging Spam will become as common as email spam. Another aspect of Jabber that has been criticized is the fact that for many Jabber users, their ID is the same as their email address. This means that they must divulge their email address in order to give out their Jabber ID; if a Jabber ID is posted on the web the corresponding email address may be Harvested for junk email. HOW IT WORKS The Jabber network is server-based (i.e. clients do not talk directly to one another) but decentralized; there is no central authoritative server, as there is with services such as AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger . Some confusion often arises on this point as there is, in fact, a public Jabber server being run at "Jabber.org", to which a large number of users subscribe. However, anyone may run their own Jabber server on their own domain. A user is identified with a user name and a server name. The two fields are separated by the @ sign. This identifier is called a ''Jabber ID'' or '' JID ''. Suppose ''juliet@capulet.com'' wants to chat with ''romeo@montague.net''. Juliet and Romeo each respectively have accounts on the Capulet.com and Montague.net servers. When Juliet types in and sends her message, a sequence of events is set in action: # Juliet's Jabber client sends her message to the Capulet.com Jabber server
# The Capulet.com Jabber server opens a connection to the Montague.net Jabber server. # The Montague.net Jabber server delivers the message to Romeo
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