ralphm

I should have made the link to the document on XMPP on Mobile Devices more explicit: http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0286.html. In short, the use of compression in the TLS layer negates the oft stated verbosity of XMPP. It really isn't the problem you think it is. More info: http://stpeter.im/journal/1384.html. I might be a fanboy, but I do know what I'm talking about.

I believe I get to downplay that because the federation they joined helped grow their own network, and allowed them to do Google Talk for other domains. I know many companies that have moved their XMPP stuff to Google for that.

Now those outside contacts are cut off, without any warning. Worse, they see their inside contacts online, can send them messages that never show up in Hangouts!

Those big players are hardly affected, though. Also, Google could simply block those entities that don't fully federate (only).

That is perfectly valid, to me. However, there is no reason to spread misinformation to cover such a decision and to bluntly cut off existing communications between people outside and inside of the Google Hangout domains. Without any warning to the former, even.

The stated reasons for dropping XMPP (federation) support in the new Google Hangouts are startling inaccurate and misinformed. As one of the XMPP Council members, I felt a rebuttal was in order: https://plus.google.com/116276248303121270590/posts/ggNwh9eL...

This isn't so much about XMPP. Dropping federation, without notice to cross-boundary contacts, is the bigger thing for me. I am personally disappointed about the whole affair, especially because there is still no clear picture on why that would be necessary.

As an XMPP Council member I can say that general consensus within the XMPP Standards Foundation is that we will just move forward, no longer constrained by things, like network security, Google never got around to implement.

I think Google Takeout is awesome, both as a concept and how it is being executed. That said, there is no takeout for Google Hangouts. I.e. with dropping federation, you can't set up your own server and reconnect to your contacts within Google Hangouts.

While the use of XML in the protocol might be considered verbose, stream-level compression from TLS quite makes up for that. With many contacts, the number of presence stanzas might indeed drain the battery because the antenna will be 'up' quite a bit.

However, the XMPP community has been active in quantifying such issues and providing solutions. The beginning of a document with background information is available as http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0286.html. There are also various opinions on the topic to be found online, like http://www.deepdarc.com/2008/02/14/mobile-xmpp/, that, as you can see, dates back half a decade already.