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As we mentioned in the ever-prescient morning reboot, AOL has announced version 6.0 of their popular instant messaging service. New features include the ability to send messages to offline users, increased buddy list size (now 1000 buddies), grouped chat windows and more.
The increase in buddy list size brings AIM up to speed with other popular IM services such as those from Yahoo and Microsoft.
Other features include a new "dashboard" which AOL says will make it easier for users to access mobile features like the new IM forwarding. IM forwarding allows you to have messages sent while you are offline forwarded to your mobile device.
AIM 6.0 also adds further integration with the new "AIM Pages," AOL's blogging and social networking feature. You can subscribe to your buddies page (via RSS) and receive updates in your instant messenger.
Some news reports have mentioned that the subscription abilities extend beyond AOL's limited offerings to include sites such as YouTube, Digg and Flickr, but I couldn't find anything about that on the AIM website.
The AIM service remains a lone wolf when it comes to interoperability. Unlike Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, which both allow you to chat with members of either service, AIM is a closed system.
AOL says it is in talks with Google about the possibility of linking AIM with Google Talk. Presumably this would function somewhat like the way AIM works with ICQ or Apple's iChat.
AOL has provided an new open SDK for developers so those of us who use the AIM service but not the the client program can expect to see third party developers incorporate the new features soon.
The AIM 6.0 client is thus far Windows only and requires either 2000 or XP.
[1]: http://www.aim.com/index.adp?aolp=0 "AIM 6.0"
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