Microsoft moves on IM protocols in attempt to spread messaging technology.

Microsoft Corp. is openly publishing the code to its instant messaging service in the hope that other developers will pick it up and run with it, the software company said Wednesday. Microsoft has been sparring with America Online over instant messaging, with the MSN Messenger Service vying with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) for control over Net users_ keyboard communications. AOL is keeping the protocols for its popular service close to the vest and hopes to keep instant messagers within the AIM orbit, but Microsoft has been challenging it by allowing MSN Messenger users to contact both MSN and AIM users. Microsoft will publish the protocols with the Internet Engineering Task Force, an organization dealing with Internet architecture issues. Often, when a software firm publishes information such as its protocols, other developers will add to it or integrate it into their own software, making it more widely available. Eventually, it can lead to the establishment of that technology as an industry standard. While both AOL and Microsoft agree in principle with the idea of interoperability, meaning all instant messaging systems can communicate with each other, the two sides so far have been unable to sit down at the table to hash out the details. Most recently, each created a commission to study the issues but neither firm attended the other_s meetings. Both companies are attempting to enlist allies in the instant messaging battle. Earlier this month, AOL signed up Internet service providers Earthlink and Mindspring to offer its service, and Microsoft said Wednesday it has signed up ISPs Prodigy, Tribal Voice and PeopleLink.