Google Removes XMPP Support From Android - Moopz

July 18, 2008 3:46 PM - Sign in to comment - Link

Google Removes XMPP Support From Android —

Android is the new highly-anticipated “open source” mobile platform that is currently under development at Google. There are a high expectations of Android as the first viable open source based mobile platform and a viable competitor to the dominance of Symbian, Microsoft and now Apple. Android is based on Linux and developers can write applications in managed code that use the Google Android SDK, which is developed in Java.

Initially with the Android SDK, there were three ways that a developer could communicate with other services or devices. The first was through text messaging with SMS (or MMS), with HTTP (or the secure variant) or with XMPP, the open messaging protocol. This list has since been struck down to two and a half options, with the XMPP implementation with Android being replaced with a more generic GTalk client library. This means that all real-time communication on Android not using SMS or HTTP must pass through the Gtalk servers.

The initial XMPP implementation was provided via the Smack library, an XMPP implementation developed by Jive Software. Developers started complaining back in January of this year that the implementation had been changed, and that it wasn’t adequate for implementing messaging services on Android. Google has since responded and the official line now is that a more specific library for GTalk is more than adequate, and they also claim that full XMPP isn’t very good for mobile anyway.

Android started as an idealistic open source platform, with a large number of hardware manufacturers lined up supporting it. It is now becoming just a Google platform for mobile, as forcing Gtalk on developers has a chain effect of enforcing Google ID’s on users and all communication to pass through Google servers. Developers are becoming increasingly frustrated by first denying Android SDK updates to some and now by closing up and deciding what can and can’t be done on the platform. Instead of being an open platform, they seem to want to funnel everything through Google services.

As one commentor on the developer thread said, what is next? GHTTP, GSMS etc? Google sucked up credibility by claiming to be the open platform alternative for mobile, but they are burning that credibility up at a fantastic rate with the decisions they are making.

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[Tags: client library, dominance, google, gtalk, hardware manufacturers]

Liked by Asteris Masouras, Jamie, Susan Beebe, Benson Miller, Ben Reierson, Simon Whatley, Parth Awasthi, Jennifer Van Grove, Ivan, Robert Scoble, benedikt and Dean Terry

android is about to fail - Alexey Melchakov

We must all think good thoughts that they will pull it together. Best thing for mobile space is a good OS street fight next year. - Dean Terry

@Dean Or for one OS (*cough iPhone cough*) to come out on top, so we can stop learning how to port one application to all these different platforms... - Charles Ju

From what I can tell, it is just that XMPP is not in the core services. Nothing prevents XMPP from being implemented and from functioning. - Jim Bergman

Android Not So Open: No XMPP, No Source - Louis Gray

Google Removes XMPP Support From Android - Sarah Perez

Android Not So Open: No XMPP, No Source - (jeff)isageek

Jim thats true, but there is a big big difference between having it on the phone and having to get it on the phone. - Nik Cubrilovic

Yeah Nik, I agree. It was like printer services (or complete lack thereof) in Windows 3.1. Every program that wanted to print had to implement it on their own, along with drivers for all the different printers. A real mess. But with Windows 95, print services were implemented. If Google is in the position of not being able to release Android for x number of extra months because of a service or three, I say lets get it out ASAP, and get that stuff in a later release of the OS. Babies aren't born fully grown. - Jim Bergman

Interesting link. Before throwing in the towel on Android though it is important to note that many of the problems Dan Morrill outlined are some of the exact same issues which RIM identified years ago. RIM's own platform had to be built to accommodate for these problems. It is good that Google realized the limitations otherwise we'd end up with Android released with just as unreliable messaging capabilities as any other non-RIM device available today. - Jeff Hiltz

Android Not Open: No XMPP, No Source, No SDK For Some - Marc van Waardenburg

Interesting point Jeff. By no means am I ready to throw the towel in on Android. I'll do some searching to see if I can find some links to RIMM and the issues they identified, and post them back here. I blogged about this topic at http://mobilewebexpert.com/?p=12 - Jim Bergman

i don't insist, but ... they might have had two more reasons to so - managing license mess and changing GT as main "carrier" to binary proprietary protocol - silpol

I wonder what happened to the Global Village protocol. It worked really well for me over slow GSM/GPRS with Yahoo's IM. A pity it has not been adopted by Google for GTalk and others. - µnauta

My hopes that Android wouldn't become just another mobile platform walled garden are now officially dashed. Might as well fall back to J2ME - Asteris Masouras

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