Instant messengers

[jayadev]

There are lot of instant messengers for use. Most of them are free. I have found most people use either Yahoo or MSN. Recently we find lot of people also using Google Talk or Skype. But how many of you faced the problem of having to open multiple accounts in one chat and communicate with your buddies from all networks? What is the solution of this problem?

[palefrost]

I hate all the different messangers and wish it was one universal one. I hate AIM the most and have to use it at work. I wish they could create a program that would host all of them into one program so no matter which one you are using you can just have that one and not have to have three up!

[keith]

I totally agree with palefrost. All these started more than 10 years ago, when ICQ (AOL) came out, and people were so excited with that. MSN Messenger wasn't that popular then, despite being part of Microsoft. Other players in the market includes Yahoo Messenger.

So, as time passes, these huge enterprises, Yahoo and MSN improves their quality, and as you know people love upgrading, despite they don't really know why they need to upgrade; so MSN Messenger and Yahoo messenger both get popular.

Skype begins to join the industry, but with focus on PC-to-Phone telephony communication, rather than IM, though they support the latter as well.

It was only until recently GOOGLE also came into the market as well, introducing their own version of IM, thus GTalk - a jabber version.

Furthermore, smaller enterprise programmers also came up with their own versions of IMs, which eventually ended up having so many IMs scattering around the Internet.

The good thing is, there is a variety of services to choose from, the bad thing, users have to install these IM clients to be able to chat with users who has that particular IMs.

These days, IMs are such distractions. I am beginning to cut down my usage on IMs. As a matter of fact, these IMs do make a huge impact on time wasting. The good point is if you have IMPORTANT things to communicate with someone at the other end of the globe, then these are really handy.

[Al]

I tend to use MSN the most followed by GTalk and Skype and you're right they are very time consuming.

[jayadev]

Well here I am with the solution also. After going through the pain of working with 4 messengers, I have found one infact two which does the total work. One is Trillian basic 3.0 which have msn, yahoo, icq, aim and google. Google is available though Jabber network. I am sure you will love it. Also to check for is another one which is GAIM.

[palefrost]

Well here I am with the solution also. After going through the pain of working with 4 messengers, I have found one infact two which does the total work. One is Trillian basic 3.0 which have msn, yahoo, icq, aim and google. Google is available though Jabber network. I am sure you will love it. Also to check for is another one which is GAIM.

OMG i lub Joooooo!!! *kiss kiss*

[karenlyn]

Wow, that's awesome, jay. Seriously. I use both MSN and Yahoo at home, and would love to have just one. I was also thinking about getting Google, but didn't want a whole new messenger program. I'm going to go look for this right now. THANKS!

[palefrost]

Ugh i just started using AIM because of the company i work for. I really dislike the features. I think MSN is a way better messanger. Even yahoo is better then AIM.

[ninikins]

Yes, I use Trillian too. just excellent and makes life so much easier.

[keith]

Yes, I use Trillian too. just excellent and makes life so much easier.

Does trillian allows webcam functions, the like MSN, Yahoo and Skype?

[goris]

I myself prefer Miranda
www.miranda-im.org

It is lightweight, no installation needed (just unzip, run, and chat). Just pick the protocol module, referred as "plug-in", you need (if you only need AIM and ICQ, no need to include jabber or IRC), and there you go. Support wide arrays of IM protocol, and customized smileys.

It is a bit more technical then other chat client, but within a day or two you should get the hang of it. The documentation is fairly complete and concise.

One drawback is they don't support cam, yet.

Oh, did I mention that it is free ?

[jayadev]

Keith, Trillian has all the features you need to chat. It supports Audio, Video, File Transfer everything. But to get the Video feature I think you have to use Trillian Pro (Paid version). There is another multi messenger which is called PSI. It uses Jabber network.

[felice206]

I too have to suggest trillian, makes things much easier. Normally I just use MSN as I have to have it up and running for work anyway.

[Sam]

I have heard of the others, but I do tend to use MSN messenger the most simply because all of my contacts have msn accounts and hotmail, so that was never a problem, I refuse to use anything with AOhell.

[IF06]

I use trillian, and found my self a version of their unreleased version, Astra which is still buggy but seems alright.

I'm using their 3.0 Pro, I still don't know the difference between that and the basic but w/e.

[boyzntoyz]

wow. trillian here i come

[zygrax]

i create my own rooms and invite my colleagues... so no one disturbs us. Ü

[bigbang]

If it does I'll probably switch to that one...I use yahoo and msn.

[keith]

I tried Trillian and it doesn't work as well as expected especially when I am behind a proxy.

[terryshaw09]

there is a program called trillian thats supposed to be good

[keith]

there is a program called trillian thats supposed to be good

I thought we were talking about that? :confused:

[beck]

I personally prefer yahoo but all my friends are on google talk :mad:

[InsanityTech]

I'm on Yahoo mostly, as it's the most used in my country. Still, I need to have accounts on Skype and MSN, as most people in other countries don't seem to like Yahoo Mess.

And yeah, it can be extremely time consumming. I stay invisible on Yahoo Messenger because I got 300+ contacts that would keep me busy all day long if I were visible.

[addyisback]

Ya i also saw yahoo or msn used by all the people , i have also used meebo, google talk .....:P

[keltinator]

Trillian Pro appears to have the best support for the most networks, as well as a great UI.

[talia0803]

I just find it all to be a massive pain in the but. I have all of the different instant messengers, or a lot of them, installed in my computer. I have google, msn, yahoo, skype and I am pretty sure there is another one I can't remember right now.

I pretty much stopped using them unless I have to, that is how I dealt with it :)

[beck]

Trillian Pro appears to have the best support for the most networks, as well as a great UI.

Is it free?

[keith]

Hey guys, there is a latest IM, which is called Pidgins. Some of you might have heard of it, but I have comment that it's really cool. Get hold of a portable version, and you can stick your thumb drive wherever you go.

[zhar]

I used to use Trillian to log into all my messengers at once.
Now i am using Miranda IM, it is really great and uses less resources of the computer. Download it , you will love it.

[devilsmaster]

Yeh, I m als fed up using multiple messengers.I have never used Trillian ,How does it different from AIM,Skype,Yahoo and MSN.

[zhar]

Yeh, I m als fed up using multiple messengers.I have never used Trillian ,How does it different from AIM,Skype,Yahoo and MSN.


It is not different, but it is like a global messenger. Normally we log into a different yahoo, msn, aim, skype which take more processing power in our computer and we have to login into each messenger individually.
With trillian or miranda you can store your skype, yahoo, aim passwords and you have to just use a single password to log into all those messengers.

Hi,

It is better to use just one account for each.. coz that will create alot of problems and another reason is, it will slow down the chat browser and it works slow...

[cool]

I tend to use MSN the most followed by GTalk and Skype

[polyangel]

What about the audio quality of Trillian? Most messengers could not only be used for chatting but for calling as well. Of all the messengers available, I could say that Skype has a very good audio quality. But I will definitely try using Trillian...