Google Talk and Lotus Sametime — does not work
Tonight, I discovered what is wrong with the internet, it is very easy to verify something is possible, but almost impossible to validate that it is not possible. Let me give you an example. I was very excited when I read this article on Google’s Blog about IBM Lotus Sametime supporting a new protocol that would allow it to connect with Google. So, i tried it. I tried adding my gmail account to my IBM Sametime client — Presto! — there I was, but permanently offline…. That was strange, I can clearly see that I’m online… So the search begins. I search IBM’s internal website W3 — lots of IBMers asked the question back in January when the news first broke. Back then the answer was “It can be set up by the network admin at the Sametime server, but IBM has not implemented it.” So there is was, *proof* that what I was trying to do was not possible. But that was January, now its October, no one has said its impossible, today yet, or even this week or month. And this is the problem with definitive dis-proof. There is just no easy way to prove that something is not possible.
So I try Yahoo IM. They even go one step further. The “add user” option has Lotus Sametime as an option. I tried this with about 15 differnt valide users….nothing. So I tried various different user names…nothing. Ben.shoemate@us.ibm.com … no. bshoe…no….what about those worthless long notes names Name/City/Server@iibm.com, the names that make it impossible email the people in a forwarded email…nothing.
So, I am here to tell you, that as of right, now, there is no way to:
- Add yahoo or google users to you Sametime list at work
- Add sametime users to you home google talk of yahoo IM.
Why no one is saying this is a product of the uncertainty caused by being unable to confirm a negative. It’s not just me either, there were at least 2o questions about this in Yahoo Answers. Including the one I added.
So here is my promise — if someone says it can be done, I will document it, and update this post. Also, if you can tell me it can not be done, because IBM has not set it up yet, that is good to. It is the uncertainty that kills us.
