Status summary

I have submitted the following to the SIMPLE group but I think that
it might help in the status discussion in this group also.

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In the SIMPLE components adhoc meeting at IETF53, I have volunteered to 
summarize the various statuses used in various systems. The summary is 
below.

While going over the various statuses it occurred to me that we need a 
more 
precise definition of what we mean when we say status. The various status 
values 
in the various systems can be divided into:

* Mood - Happy, Sad etc.

* Hint - I am on the phone therefore I will probably not be able to 
respond 
  immediately. The way that the my client will display the message to me 
e.g.
  in Away mode some clients will display the message in a different way 
from
  the way they do in normal online mode. 

* Availability - Am I open or close to communication. The availability can 
be 
  simple just open or close or quite complex - I am open to communication 
  depending on who is calling and in which location am I.

While moods and hints can be localized to vendors and clients, it seems 
that 
availability is the part of the status that mostly needs standardization.

The summary:
===========

# AOL - No explicit status - only idle indication by sensing mouse and 
keyboard activity.

# MSN - Open and close statuses + hints
        * Online (OPEN)
        * Busy (CLOSED)
        * Be Right Back (OPEN)
        * Away (OPEN)
        * On the Phone (CLOSED)
        * Out to Lunch (OPEN)
        * Appear Offline (Lurking, CLOSED)

# YAHOO - Open and close + hints for open.
        * Offline (CLOSED)
        * Available (OPEN) 
        * Busy with various messages (configurable) e.g. Be Right Back, Busy 
          etc. (OPEN) 
        * Invisible (Lurking can be done only in login time) 

# ICQ - Open and close statuses. Open statuses are accompanied by hints. 
For 
  example if I am in DND, I will still get messages but the messages will 
not be 
  displayed on my screen.
        Simple Mode
                * Available
                * Away (OPEN, Messages are shown on the screen)
                * Offline
        Advanced Mode
                * Available
                * Free for chat
                * Away
                * N/A (Extended Away)
                * Occupied (Urgent messages)
                * DND (Do Not Disturb)
                * Privacy (Invisible) - Lurking
                * Offline

# Louts Sametime - Open and close + strong DND. Strong DND means that I am 
not 
  able to send a message to a person that is in DND mode
        * Active (OPEN)
        * DND (Online but closed)
        * Away (OPEN, an hint)

# Wireless Village - As defined by the spec status is composed from 
several 
  attributes as: availability, preferred contacts etc. Following is a 
complete 
  list. 
        * User availability
                - AVAILABLE
                - NOT_AVAILABLE
                - DISCREET (selectively available. Likd DND or busy in other systems)
         
        * Preferred Contacts (preferred contact method of the user + address of 
          contact)
                - CALL
                - SMS
                - MMS (Multi Media SMS)
                - IM
                - EMAIL
        * Preferred Language
        * Status Text (free text describing the status)
        * Status Mood (e.g. HAPPY, SAD, etc.)
        * Alias (alias name for the user)
        * Status Content - MMS content or URL to the MMS content that the user 
          has selected as personal status information.
        * Contact Info - Contact information (vCard)

# PAM Forum - As described in a previous message Jorge Lobo" 
  <[email protected]>. PAM forum has separate layers of presence 
information and 
  availability. Availability can be computed by a very simple methods or 
by very 
  complex conditions as if the message is from X try to get me on any 
available 
  device that I am on if not, leave a message on my desktop.

Avshalom Houri
Presence and Instant Messaging Architect
Lotus Sametime, IBM Software Group
[email protected]