Messaging rivals round on AOL

Microsoft and seven other leading email firms have sent a joint letter to America Online (AOL) CEO, Steve Case, asking him to meet with them to hammer out an open standard for instant messaging.

AOL and Microsoft have been locked in a battle over the instant messaging market, where AOL has a clear majority of users. When Microsoft issued software last week that unlocks AOL's proprietary messaging technology, AOL blocked its users from communicating with non-AOL subscribers.

At the time, Microsoft accused AOL of being more interested in maintaining its proprietary hold over the market than in benefiting customers.

Now executives of AT&T, Excite@Home, Infoseek and Yahoo have added their voices to the debate. "AOL is to be applauded for its early leadership in this space," the letter reads.

"But now is the time to unlock the broadest possibilities of this technology and the Internet by tearing down the walls between vendors so that all customers can talk to one another. Certainly this is in our interests, but also in the interests of our mutual customers."