What would the standard protocol encompass? (Score 2)

I have a few questions though about a potential standardized protocol. First, would instant messages likely be sent in HTML format? Second, which of these AIM features would likely make it into the protocol? 1) Maintaining a profile for each online user, possibly with attributes like age, gender, e-mail address, etc? 2) Being able to poll for other users that are online, according to their attributes, in order to potentially meet new people? 3) Being able to tell how long another person has been online? 4) Displaying an away message when the user is not active with the client? My point is, I don't want to end up with standardized clients that only perform the most basic of functions. On the other hand, I'm also guessing that the above features would possibly get a little messy, what with multiple unrelated servers across the globe handling the IM's. Can anyone enlighten me? Lastly, an open protocol would be great, but a standardized quick-n-dirty cross-platform Instant Messaging API would be a welcome compliment.