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Does facebook follow an open standard for their messaging system?

by jspark 13y ago

saraid216 13y ago
Sort of? http://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/ http://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/
zokier 13y ago
Facebook chat is XMPP, yes, if that's what you are asking.
dannyr 13y ago
Also add WhatsApp, Line, KakaoTalk, Viber, Kik. Google is getting clobbered in the messaging space by these apps. If Google thinks they can move faster by dropping XMPP support, I'm fine with it. Imagine if Google sticks with XMPP and continue to lose market share in messaging. They might have to shut down Talk. We know what happens when Google sunsets a product, lots of angry people. Lose-lose situation for Google here.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
mindcrime 13y ago
It's XMPP at core, but - AFAIK - they also do not support server-to-server federation. So you can connect to Facebook chat with any XMPP compatible client, but if you run your own ejabberd server, you can't connect to your server, and then message your Facebook friends.
- hwatson 13y ago
  It's not. As https://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/ https://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/ explains, "Facebook Chat should be compatible with every XMPP client, but is not a full XMPP server. It should be thought of as a proxy into the world of Facebook Chat on www.facebook.com.
  - mindcrime 13y ago
    It's "XMPP enough" in this contenxt. It's XMPP, it just isn't complete XMPP, might be a better way of putting it. That's not to say I wouldn't like to see them improve their support for all of XMPP though.
    - magicalist 13y ago
      Er, so isn't that the exact same situation as Google? You can still connect with any XMPP client, but XMPP support is now just a proxy into the world of Hangouts.
      - throwaway2048 13y ago
        xmpp clients do not work with Google Hangouts
        magicalist 13y ago
        Yes, my pidgin is working just fine right now. You have to log in through a google account now, you can't connect through a federated account, but AFAIK all previous XMPP clients still work just fine.
        Shank 13y ago
        It supports client federation, not server federation. Server federation is what it allows XMPP servers to send messages between each other, while client federation allows for other clients to connect over XMPP.
        claudius 13y ago
        What I don’t quite get is how server federation is much more difficult than ‘client federation’. s2s XMPP looks extremely similar to s2c XMPP, and since they still have s2c XMPP, they don’t seem to have a problem with only exposing parts of their architecture via XMPP. Really, I can only think of laziness and trying to build a walled garden as reasons to support c2s but not s2s connections. Both of which are not exactly good explanations for one of the largest companies in software engineering.
shmerl 13y ago
Even though Facebook uses XMPP, they aren't federated, so they are cut off from the rest of the XMPP network. Therefore the benefit of them using XMPP extends only on using different clients. I.e. it's half good, half bad.

Does facebook follow an open standard for their messaging system?

by jspark 13y ago

Does facebook follow an open standard for their messaging system?

saraid216 13y ago

Sort of? http://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/ http://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/

zokier 13y ago

Facebook chat is XMPP, yes, if that's what you are asking.

dannyr 13y ago

Also add WhatsApp, Line, KakaoTalk, Viber, Kik. Google is getting clobbered in the messaging space by these apps. If Google thinks they can move faster by dropping XMPP support, I'm fine with it. Imagine if Google sticks with XMPP and continue to lose market share in messaging. They might have to shut down Talk. We know what happens when Google sunsets a product, lots of angry people. Lose-lose situation for Google here.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

mindcrime 13y ago

It's XMPP at core, but - AFAIK - they also do not support server-to-server federation. So you can connect to Facebook chat with any XMPP compatible client, but if you run your own ejabberd server, you can't connect to your server, and then message your Facebook friends.

hwatson 13y ago
It's not. As https://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/ https://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/ explains, "Facebook Chat should be compatible with every XMPP client, but is not a full XMPP server. It should be thought of as a proxy into the world of Facebook Chat on www.facebook.com.
- mindcrime 13y ago
  It's "XMPP enough" in this contenxt. It's XMPP, it just isn't complete XMPP, might be a better way of putting it. That's not to say I wouldn't like to see them improve their support for all of XMPP though.
  - magicalist 13y ago
    Er, so isn't that the exact same situation as Google? You can still connect with any XMPP client, but XMPP support is now just a proxy into the world of Hangouts.
    - throwaway2048 13y ago
      xmpp clients do not work with Google Hangouts
      - magicalist 13y ago
        Yes, my pidgin is working just fine right now. You have to log in through a google account now, you can't connect through a federated account, but AFAIK all previous XMPP clients still work just fine.
      - Shank 13y ago
        It supports client federation, not server federation. Server federation is what it allows XMPP servers to send messages between each other, while client federation allows for other clients to connect over XMPP.
        claudius 13y ago
        What I don’t quite get is how server federation is much more difficult than ‘client federation’. s2s XMPP looks extremely similar to s2c XMPP, and since they still have s2c XMPP, they don’t seem to have a problem with only exposing parts of their architecture via XMPP. Really, I can only think of laziness and trying to build a walled garden as reasons to support c2s but not s2s connections. Both of which are not exactly good explanations for one of the largest companies in software engineering.

shmerl 13y ago

Even though Facebook uses XMPP, they aren't federated, so they are cut off from the rest of the XMPP network. Therefore the benefit of them using XMPP extends only on using different clients. I.e. it's half good, half bad.