America Online has said it plans to enable users of its instant messaging service to see when friends and business associates are online, even if they're not on the contact list.
The company plans to let users connect its AIM software with the address book of a popular Microsoft calendar and e-mail program in a deal with a third-party company that lets it bypass the Redmond software giant.
Executives of the online division of Time Warner said it struck a deal with Intellisync, which plans to release software that lets AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) users know when a contact within their Microsoft Outlook program is online and reachable by AIM automatically.
The move on Monday by the world's largest online service is another way the company plans to spread its wings across the Web in an aggressive gambit to reverse a historic aversion to giving away anything for free.
"The web is open...It's not siloing yourself," said Chamath Palihapitiya, vice president and general manager of AIM. "AIM is everywhere consumers are. We want to take it to where they are."
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