AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997. Stand-alone official AIM client software includes advertisements and is available for Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS. The software, maintained by AOL, Inc., at one time had the largest share of the instant messaging market in North America, especially in the United States (with 52% of the total reported as of 2006). This does not include other instant messaging software related to or developed by AOL, such as ICQ and iChat. As of June 2011, one reported market share had collapsed to 0.73%. However, this number only reflects installed IM applications, and not active users.
Read more about AOL Instant Messenger: Protocol, Privacy, Chat Robots, URI Scheme, Vulnerabilities
Famous quotes containing the words instant and/or messenger:
“Truly, though our element is time,
We are not suited to the long perspectives
Open at each instant of our lives.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn,
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)