8 Freeware Apps for Multiprotocol IM Services
The world of Instant Messaging is at its high and is getting more crowded these days. MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GTalk, ICQ are the most prominent players. The choice varies from country to country and from person to person. Yahoo is very famous in India and MSN/AIM in the US. Since the advent of Technology people started communicating across continents through Instant Messaging clients. Therefore, the need of having all the IM clients installed in the computer system. But, this is not an ideal way.
More recently, Social Networks like Twitter, MySpace & Facebook have been increasingly being used as Instant Messaging tools.
One should be able to communicate with all the other available IM clients and related software from a single piece of software.
Yes, an IM client that lets you chat across IM Services. Thanks, we have many choices. Here are the list of some of them.
Digsby – Windows/Mac/Linux
In my opinion, this is the best among all the available software. It has amazing features, listed below. It not only brings other clients into one but also lets you communicate across Social Networks.
- Clean interface and intuitive to navigate.
- Combine your buddy list into one from AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber and Facebook Chat accounts.
- Get pop-up notifications when new email arrives from Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, IMAP and POP accounts.
- You can even send and receive emails to and from multiple email accounts.
- Stay updated with happenings on your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn accounts.
- Complete synchronization across computers and installations
Adium – Mac
According to people’s view this is a must have application for MAC. What set’s it apart? Let’s have a look at it’s features.
- Apart from AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, Bonjour, MySpace, Live Journal Talk, Jabber, Facebook, it also includes Corporate networks like Novell GroupWise and Lotus SameTime.
- Working on to bring Video chatting to its list.
- Huge lists of Plugins for add-on functionality
Instan-t – Windows
With Instan-t, you can either install a desktop software or can directly login to their Web IM.
1. This multiprotocol IM features a nifty virtual conference room with Video and Audio chatting.
2. Supports multiperson video chat.
3. The drawback being, it’s available only for MSN, AOL, ICQ, Yahoo and GTalk and, of course, Instan-t IM networks.
Meebo – Web based
Do you need it? Let’s see the features.
- Need not install any software. Works only from JavaScript enabled Web browsers.
- Easy for usage on other computers than our own computer.
- Interface is limited.
- Supported chat clients are limited.
Miranda – Windows
This is a multiprotocol IM for users who incline to Simplicity. Here are some of it’s features.
- It’s a bit different. Most of the open source applications are compatible with Linux. But, this one is only for Windows.
- This is small – tiny, actually.
- Takes very less memory and system resources compared to other multiprotocol IMs.
- Some people do not like IMs, but, they will still need to use it for the sake of others. It’s for them.
Pidgin – Windows/Linux
Read2Know has earlier published a post on Pidgin. To outline some of it’s features,
- Supports many many IMs including SameTime, QQ, SLIC, SIMPLE, GroupWise, Gadu-Gadu, XMPP, Zephyr, QQ.
- A clean interface based on GTK+Tool Kit. http://www.gtk.org/.
- Known for its no-nonsense, this tool kit is mostly used in Linux applications.
- Use this if Security and Privacy are your priorities.
Trillian – Windows
- Supports video chat capabilities of AIM, MSN & Yahoo.
- The free basic version only supports IM protocols of AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo.
- If you need other protocols, you will need to upgrade to Pro version which costs $25.
- If you want to use the webcam feature of the major instant messaging system, then it might be worth paying for the upgrade.
- Finally, not worth of buying a pro or using a free version, when you can get more features for free.
VoxOx – Windows/Mac/Linux (Coming Soon)
Launched in Nov’08, VoxOx is the new entrant to the multiple IMs. Being the new entrant, it is certain that it has to provide more features than the existing ones. VoxOx, exactly did the same.
- Like Digsby it supports various IM clients, e-mail and social network accounts.
- Supports communication features as in Skype.
- GUI is simply amazing.
- Includes business features like Voice Mail, Conference Calling, Fax and Video Conferencing.
- Most of the features, including the communication ones, are currently free. Means, you may have to buy it in the future.
- The communication features work only with other VoxOx users.
- A lot depends on how popular VoxOx becomes.
Conclusion
I suggest to go for Digsby/Pidgin for Windows and Adium for MAC users. These are the best free IM clients for Windows and/or MAC.
Technorati Tags: Instant Messaging, Free Software, Utilities, Multiprotocol IM Clients
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Comments
Nice list, I have used meebo in my college,its quite nice. i Have written an article regarding it long back in blog. Thanks for sharing!
Nicholas | Pixobyte.com´s last blog post..How to create a new user in Windows XP without the notice of the administrator
Thanks for the info. I have used meebo before.
Nihar´s last blog post..Top Entrecard droppers in January 2009
Pidgin is the cool one out of all these..I wrote a post on TechZoomIn some time back..
And also I’m using it on my system daily..Really good one that is.
@Nicholas, Try Digsby. I’m sure you will love it.
@Nihar, Try Digsby. You will be surprised to see it’s features.
@Lax, No doubt Pidgin is good. It also supports SameTime. I come to know about Digsby only recently and it has lot more features than Pidgin. Try it out.
Pidgin is my Fav. I totally got sick of the bloat-ware that the official clients of ICQ, and MSN have. Not to mention having to run a different program for each is just frustrating and creates clutter in the system tray.
JAB_au´s last blog post..Firefox 3.0.6 Released
Paltalk is a real-time, video-based chat community. With more than 4 million members and thousands of chat rooms to choose from, on virtually every subject. Members interact with each other through real-time voice, text and video chat. You can start groups in this chat community. Groups include a chat room, photo/video sharing, a message board, and a members list. Paltalk is split into two products/services the online Paltalk Express and the downloadable PC based Paltalk Scene.
I’ve been a long time user of Pidgin on Windows and Linux. I thought Pidgin would come out the best IM client, but I think I should give a try to Digsby, I’ve downloaded it for Windows and will give it a try soon. Btw, like Digsby, Pidgin also supports Facebook Chat although you’ve to add a plugin from their site.
Every time a windows user using my Ubuntu pc, they would ask ‘How do I use YM in your computer?’ question. When I give them Pidgin, they would ask ‘How do I send message to mobile phone?’.
I’ll try Digsby to see what it can do. Anyway, thanks for the list. Great info.
Great tools.
Thanks for posting this nice list of tools. Really helped me out here.
Teen Blogger´s last blog ..My Blog’s 2 Month Old Journey So Far 
nice list of cool apps, thanks for posting them!