Yahoo Tries to Shut the Door on Third-Party IMs

[BigBlueBall News]

Jeff Hester
June 24, 2004

Wednesday evening around 6pm Pacific time, Yahoo rolled out changes to their instant messaging protocol that effectively blocked third-party instant
messengers such as Trillian and GAIM from accessing their network. Cerulean Studios, makers of the popular mult-protocol Trillian instant messenger responded today with patches for both their free and professional versions that restore Yahoo connectivity.

This isn’t the first time that Yahoo has changed their protocol to try to
throw of third-party IM clients. Yahoo’s official claim is that these changes
will reduce the amount of SPIM (Instant Message SPam) that their users receive, even though most industry experts acknowledge that SPIM has yet to become much of a problem for more people.

If you’re using Trillian, visit CeruleanStudios.com and download the new patches (2.013 for Trillian Pro or 0.74i for the free version of Trillian).

Other third-party instant messengers may be able to get around the block
until a patch is available by changing the Y!IM host you connect to from
scs.msg.yahoo.com to scs.yahoo.com, port 5050.

Related Stories

• Yahoo Blocks Trillian From Its Networks - The Inquirer - June 24, 2004
• Yahoo to Trillian: Talk to the Hand - CNET News - June 23, 2004

Related Links

• BigBlueBall Yahoo! Center
• Official Yahoo! Messenger website
• BigBlueBall Trillian Center
• Official Trillian website