> if it were, then it shouldn't be long before we all switch away from HTTP and SSH for the sake of "innovation"
Not great examples. HTTP has evolved several times to address changing needs: HTTP 0.9 (1991), HTTP 1.0 (1996), HTTP 1.1 (1997), HTTP 1.1 again (2007) and HTTP 2.0 (targeted for 2014). So did SSH: SSH-1 (1995) SSH-2 (2006).
These evolutions were possible because there were multiple major players that could come together (with multiple implementations) to settle on the new standard.
> but it sounds like XMPP at least could have simply been extended if there were features Google needed for Hangouts
In an alternate future where Google did that, people would have cried "embrace, extend, extinguish." Especially if any of their extensions were anti-spam related, people would have criticized them for being exclusionary.
For example, look at all the flak Google has gotten for SPDY. Evolving XMPP would have probably led to the same criticism.
And XMPP still wouldn't have provided interop with any of the major IM networks, because none of them were implementing it.
You truly can't please everybody, even if you really believe in something.
Just like HTTP, XMPP has evolved, with earlier RFC's being superseded by more recent ones.
Extensibility is a built in part of the XMPP standard, and Google have already made several extensions related to Google Talk etc.
Using XMPP provides a much greater possibility of interoperability, as several other major "modern" IM networks use their own non-federated XMPP network. WhatsApp, Facebook Chat, etc. It's much more likely that two non-federated XMPP networks will become federated, than two binary incompatible networks both becoming binary compatible AND supporting federation.
Not great examples. HTTP has evolved several times to address changing needs: HTTP 0.9 (1991), HTTP 1.0 (1996), HTTP 1.1 (1997), HTTP 1.1 again (2007) and HTTP 2.0 (targeted for 2014). So did SSH: SSH-1 (1995) SSH-2 (2006).
These evolutions were possible because there were multiple major players that could come together (with multiple implementations) to settle on the new standard.
> but it sounds like XMPP at least could have simply been extended if there were features Google needed for Hangouts
In an alternate future where Google did that, people would have cried "embrace, extend, extinguish." Especially if any of their extensions were anti-spam related, people would have criticized them for being exclusionary.
For example, look at all the flak Google has gotten for SPDY. Evolving XMPP would have probably led to the same criticism.
And XMPP still wouldn't have provided interop with any of the major IM networks, because none of them were implementing it.
You truly can't please everybody, even if you really believe in something.