For the Node.js developers in the discussion, I've been hacking away on [Junction](https://github.com/jaredhanson/junction) in my spare moments.

I've long been fascinated with XMPP, because it is so flexible. Rather than focusing solely on a specific purpose (like IM), Junction exposes a middleware framework similar to Express so that you can develop applications on top of XMPP.

I've been happy with the approach, and I'd be curious to get feedback from other developers who've had similar thoughts regarding XMPP.