America Online said it would allow its next version of AOL Instant Messenger to communicate with ICQ, a surprise move that will topple the long-standing barrier between the company’s two popular IM services. Competitors and critics, most notably Microsoft, have complained to regulators that AOL’s resistance to opening AIM to third parties is an unfair exploitation of its market leadership. During the review of the AOL-Time Warner merger in 2000, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates urged Federal Communications Commission officials to closely examine AOL’s IM dominance. Gates also advocated the need for a standard that would let IM services interoperate.
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