Microsoft and Yahoo link IM services

Internet giants Microsoft and Yahoo have released experimental software to link their separate Instant Messenger systems, according to elentronicnews.net .

If the new beta software, which allows interoperability between the two formally exclusive IM systems, is successful, it could create an online community of 350 mln users. This means the two internet giants will control more than half of the growing instant messaging market.

The agreement is believed to be the first time major players in the highly-competitive IM industry have officially come together to enable cross-network communication.

The move fulfils a pledge Microsoft and Yahoo made late last year to combine their IM communities, but it seems to have taken the two companies a lot longer than predicted.

AOL and Google also signed a deal to link their IM networks last year but no date for interoperability has been set.

The Microsoft-Yahoo beta programme will initially be available in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the UK and the US.

In a joint statement, Yahoo and Microsoft said they plan to make the interoperability between their respective IM services broadly available to consumers in the coming months.