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Several people wrote to tell me that ICQ is actually owned by AOL. In my article I did not spell this out and, in fact, wrote some things that indicated the opposite. Well, let's set the record straight here: It is indeed owned by AOL. In essence, the same is true of Hotmail. We all know it's a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, but I didn't state that clearly in my article.

And others wrote me looking for alternatives to an external instant messaging server like AOL's IM network. I hate to plug only the big names in the business just because they are easy to remember, so I went searching for more information. Here's what I found. If you're looking to set up a corporate messaging server, check out Instant Messaging Planet. The site houses references to many IM products and includes many articles on the topic. For those looking for replacement IM servers, I recommend the corporate profile list at the end of an Instant Messaging Planet article entitled "Buyer's Briefing: Corporate IM."

Finally, several people wrote to me concerning two recent developments. First, AOL has blocked Trillian users, asking them to download the company's free interface. How's that for shameless? "You can't use your preferred software, but here's a free one that's less useful.…" Second, the Trillian team was able to work around this most recent blockage as before.

It's been a long ride for the makers of Trillian, Cerulean Studios, and I'm surprised they're still in the game. On the 21st of February, they posted the following on their Web site: "Going forward, Cerulean Studios is committed to maintaining interoperability across all major IM networks. We will continue to work hard and pursue the necessary avenues to keep this a reality.…"

What can we say but, "Thank you, Cerulean." No matter whether you're a Trillian user or not, it's always good news when a vendor decides that what is best for us is what it will pursue. You can say "it's their business," but they could have given up. There are many easy ways out of this stand-off for Trillian (coming to a financial agreement with AOL and beginning to charge for Trillian comes to mind), but instead the company is sticking to its guns.