New Beta of AIM 'Triton' Now Available

MIAMI--America Online plans to launch a broad program to encourage external developers to create applications for the company's AIM instant messaging platform, an AOL executive said Monday.

The new program has been tailored for a new AIM version called Triton, which AOL began testing in April and which is based on a new architecture that is more open and modular than the existing one.

AOL posted the latest beta version of Triton today. This version, 0.3.19, fixes several glitches and adds some new features, such as a redesigned "away" message.

AOL is considering enhancing Triton by extending to all AIM users a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service with which they can dial out to and receive calls from regular and mobile phones. AOL is still deciding how to price this VoIP service for AIM users, but it might be free of charge, says Chamath Palihapitiya, vice president and general manager of AIM and ICQ at Dulles, Virginia-based AOL. If it's not free, it will be very inexpensive, he says. AIM users currently can use VoIP among themselves, from PC to PC, for free.

AOL has in the past selectively opened parts of AIM for hand-picked developer partners, but it plans to open the platform to developers of all stripes with a new program it intends to introduce in August. "We want to let anyone on the Web with a good idea bring their innovation to our product and create plug-ins and add-ons," he says.

AOL will make available for developers a Web site with APIs, software development kits, documentation, and sample code, and it will showcase there the best add-ons and plug-ins and provide support, Palihapitiya says.

More New Features

Triton also will feature an integrated video player within its interface for users to play commercial clips such as music videos, Palihapitiya says. Currently, AIM users can ask to view commercial video content via a button in the AIM interface, but they are taken to a separate window that pops up for them to make their selections and play back the clips.

AIM users currently can engage in video IM if they have Web cams, complementing the text messaging with video of the person they are communicating with. In Triton, users will be able to manipulate this Web cam video stream similar to the way they would with video editing software or with video cameras, he says.

Triton is expected to exit its beta-testing period in September or October, at which point it will become the preferred AIM application.