Recently I have grown very impatient with development of
instant messaging. This may partly be caused by the
variety of protocols (and no one ever wants to migrate
anywhere) or also by the lack of history synchronization.
Breaking it down to the basics, if I was able to redesign
IM:
- Accessible
through websites for mobile and desktop
(clients would be temporary for me)
- Full permanent history which can be saved locally if
desired
- Simple and easy to use
- Easy to invite users (email-based)
- Semi-live updates of the chat (Polling instead of pushing)
- Some sort of online notification
- User search with reservations
File uploads can be handled either by plugin or through
some third party service. Voice is not a requirement of
mine and not supported by most IM protocols.
It would be one service for all, a twittery tumblr with a
piece of jabber.