Vendor Independent Messaging
Encyclopedia
VIM was a standard API
for applications to integrate with e-mail
on Windows 3.x
, proposed by Lotus, Borland
, IBM
& Novell
in the early 1990s. Its main competitor was Microsoft's MAPI
, which was the eventual winner of the MAPI v. VIM war. Ultimately, the choice of VIM or MAPI did not make a huge differences: bridges meant that an MAPI client could access a VIM provider and vice versa, and the rise of Internet e-mail in the mid-1990s rendered the panoply
of proprietary
e-mail systems which VIM and MAPI were meant to cater to largely irrelevant.
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
for applications to integrate with e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
on Windows 3.x
Windows 3.1x
Windows 3.1x is a series of 16-bit operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers. The series began with Windows 3.1, which was first sold during March 1992 as a successor to Windows 3.0...
, proposed by Lotus, Borland
Borland
Borland Software Corporation is a software company first headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, Cupertino, California and finally Austin, Texas. It is now a Micro Focus subsidiary. It was founded in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad and Philippe Kahn.-The 1980s:...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
& Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
in the early 1990s. Its main competitor was Microsoft's MAPI
Messaging Application Programming Interface
Messaging Application Programming Interface is a messaging architecture and a Component Object Model based API for Microsoft Windows. MAPI allows client programmes to become messaging-enabled, -aware, or -based by calling MAPI subsystem routines that interface with certain messaging servers...
, which was the eventual winner of the MAPI v. VIM war. Ultimately, the choice of VIM or MAPI did not make a huge differences: bridges meant that an MAPI client could access a VIM provider and vice versa, and the rise of Internet e-mail in the mid-1990s rendered the panoply
Panoply
A panoply is a complete suit of armour. The word represents the ancient Greek πανοπλια. The word παν means "all", and όπλον, "arms". Thus "panoply" refers to the full armour of a hoplite or heavy-armed soldier, i.e...
of proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
e-mail systems which VIM and MAPI were meant to cater to largely irrelevant.