Chat Clients and Alternatives

I’ve done a post on Digsby, so I figured, why not do a post on some of the most popular chat client alternatives out there, both desktop and online. Let’s see how it goes. Of course I’ll only briefly mention Digsby, since I’ve already done an entire post on it. First, I want to touch upon all of the chat clients provided by the individual services first before I go into third party clients that support multiple protocols. Let’s go take an adventure into the little world of chat clients. Be warned, I have not tried all of these clients myself, so you use them at your own risk. Also, I’m only covering some of the more popular ones or ones that that I find rather intriguing. If you want to learn about more chat clients that I haven’t covered, you can visit this Wikipedia article titled : “Online Chat“

//*EDIT: Here is the link to Mashable’s Hillel Fuld’s take on the “5 Great Instant Messanger Aggregators Across Multiple Platforms“. Worth checking out.

1) AOL Instant Messanger (AIM): Perhaps one of the most popular chat clients that most people have heard of is AIM. I know that I grew up around this chat client, when it used to come with the AOL browser only. It’s been a long time now, but I still use it. By the way, it’s the same screen-name (SN) that I’ve been using since I was a kid. Very official and business-like. If you need to know, it’s vincentwjtang. I have no problem posting this since I post it all over the place anyway. Contact me if you’d like, but please be friendly, introduce yourself, and don’t spam! I don’t like spam and I’m sure you don’t either. AIM was released in 1997. It has been released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Linux. Most recently, it has been released for the ever-so popular iPhone and iPod Touch from Apple. AIM is now on version 6.8.14.6 as of the end of October 2009. You should definitely check it out because it’s one of the most common chat clients. I have used AIM in the past, but ever since trying out other clients, I prefer multiple protocols. However, if you only need AIM, why not stick with the original? *//Note: Why not check out AIM Express too? It’s pretty much AIM offered online and offers most of the same features. You can access AIM Express here.

2) Windows Live Manager, previously known as MSN Messenger (MSN): MSN is an instant messaging client created by Windows. I’ve used MSN a couple of times, but I’ve found that AIM is definitely a standard and is more popular than Microsoft. Most of my contacts are on AIM and not on Microsoft, making logging onto MSN pretty pointless since I only have 4 to 5 contacts on that list. MSN was released as MSN Messenger in 1999 and has now been renamed as Windows Live Messenger as of mid-December 2005. I’ve seen a lot of people using MSN for video chatting. One cool thing is that Yahoo! and Microsoft introduced interoperability between their two messangers. You can now log on to both using one ID. MSN has been released for Windows XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, and Windows Mobile. The latest build is 14.0.8050.1202, released in mid-December 2008. If you have friends or family using MSN, you should check it out. It is a major player in the instant messaging arena. *//Note: MSN also has an express web browser version, which you can find here.

3) Yahoo! Messenger: Even before using AIN, I’ve used Yahoo! Messenger. The first e-mail account I ever held was with Yahoo!. This automatically gave me an account with Yahoo! Messenger. However, I never fully appreciated the Yahoo! client, since AIM was gaining in popularity. From my times with the Yahoo! chat client, I found it to be efficient and very easy to use. With the partnership between Yahoo! and Microsoft, you can log in to Yahoo! with either a generic Yahoo! ID or an Windows ID. Yahoo! Messenger has Yahoo! mail integration and I’ve seen most people using Yahoo! use it for voice chatting. I guess each client has it’s own strong points. It is currently available on Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX. It is on version 9.0.0.2112 in Windows, 2.5.3 for Mac, and 1.0.6 for Unix. *//NOTE: Yahoo! also has as web chat client. It just checked it out and it’s pretty awesome. You can access the web version here.

4) Google Talk: Google Talk is known for it’s interoperability. Google has, in the past couple of years, risen to the top. Google is well known for it’s infamous search engine and e-mail, dubbed Gmail, which has taken a huge rise in popularity. Google Talk is not only a great chat client, it is also useful as a VOIP. One cool feature with Google Talk is that you can access it using your Gmail. When you use your google account, you can talk to your friends and more recently, even send SMS right from your web browser. It’s everything in a single location. That’s the great thing about Google. It’s simple, easy to use, and everything is central. Google Talk is available in a variety of different languages and is available for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. Currently, the version is 1.0.0.104. Google Talk is a must try.

5) ICQ: ICQ has over 31 million users worldwide and supports a huge international community. I’ve used ICQ many a times and have found that many of the ICQ chat rooms are very informative and the users are very open and friendly. ICQ rooms are great places to meet people who have the same interests. ICQ’s many unknown features include the ability to send text messages, SMS sending, resumable file transfers, searchable user database, and online games. ICQ revolves around a great community and is something that you should check out, even if it’s for a little while. Since 2000, ICQ and AIM users can add each other to their perspective contact lists. Currently it is on version 6.5 and is available Windows, Mac, and many mobile phones. Enjoy your ICQ experience!

6) Internet Relay Chat (IRC): IRC is fairly unknown to me, but pretty popular, it turns out. IRC is a real-time Internet chat and is designed for group chatting in categories called channels. It also allows one on one chats with private messaging. However, I don’t know too much about IRC, so if anyone wants to elaborate or explain it to me, feel free! With a simple Google search, I found out that mIRC is the most popular IRC chat client for Windows. Enjoy! If you decied to check IRC out, let me know how it goes in the comments below! The screenshot below is of mIRC.

Well, those are the big few that people use in order to communicate and get around online. Now let’s take a look at VOIP. I’m only going to cover two of those because I don’t use VOIP much. Other alternatives are greatly appreciated.

1) Skype: Skype allows users to make telephone calls over the internet. You can make calls to phones with credit or you can make calls to others on skype with pc to pc calls. Skype also includes instant messaging, files transfer, and video conferencing. I’ve used Skype plenty of times and it’s by far the most aesthetically pleasing and it is very efficient. I definitely like it and I would recommend it. It is currently stable on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Windows Mobile. A must try!

2) Gizmo5: I actually use Gizmo5 more than I use Skype, so I have a little more to say about it. I use Gizmo5 when I need to use VOIP simply because it is more feasible, in my opinion. The Gizmo5 network uses open standards for call management. The cool thing about Gizmo5 is that you can call the landlines or mobile phones of other Gizmo5 users for free. You do need credits if you wanted to call other phones. This software is free and is developed by SIPphone. Currently, it is available on Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and Symbian. You should try it!

Alright, we’ve been over the most popular chat clients and two VOIP clients that include chat. Next, we’ll take a look at third-party multiple protocol clients. Let’s see what we have shall we? I have some more experience in this category because I love multiple protocol clients.

1) Digsby: I’ve already done a post about this chat client, but I really like it, so I’m putting it at the top of the list. However, here are a couple of cooler screenshots and a link to my previous post about Digsby.

2) Trillian: Before I switched over to Digsby, I was using Trillian Pro. Yes, it was pretty good, but I found that Digsby was better suited to my needs because of the ability to see user profiles and the ability to see social network statuses and updates. Trillian is developed by Cerulean Studios. It was originally released as an IRC client, but soon included multiple services, among them AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, IRC, Jabber, Skype, and Yahoo! Messenger. The stable release is for Windows, version 3.1.12.0. Trillian also has a slew of emoticons and plug-in compatibilities. I liked trillian a whole bunch and I’m waiting for the new version, Trillian Astra, which is currently in alpha, to come out. I want to see how it goes up against Digsby because it looks really good in the screenshots. However, I was not able to get into the alpha test. I hope that I get it soon because I want to take a crack at it and see how it is. Enjoy Trillian!

3) Miranda IM: I’ve had a little experience with Miranda IM. I used it a couple of years ago at a company I used to work at over the summer to talk to my then girlfriend. I liked using it because it was easy to install and use. It was a great way to talk to her while I was at work. Miranda IM is a light weight instant messaging client. It includes support for AIM, Jabber, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu and more. Miranda IM is for Windows and the latest version is 0.7.14. I’d recommend it for it’s lightweightedness.

4) Pidgin: According to Pidgin, it is a “easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.” It is cross-platform and the preferred client for many. That’s pretty much all I have to say about this one.

5) Adium: Adium is another popular free instant messaging client for Mac OS X only and supports AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. It’s simple, efficient and all the Mac users love it.

6) Instantbird: Instantbird is a client that I just heard about. Apparently, it’s similar in concept to all the other clients that we’ve heard about. It is based on Mozilla and is created by the developers of Pidgin. I’ve never personally used it, but it looks alright. It is cross-platform and is on release 0.1.3.

7) Meebo: Meebo is an ajax-based web based internet messaging program that supports many IM services, including most of the common ones. I love meebo and I use it all the time. They have a meebo me widget and they’ve become really popular. If you don’t know about meebo or don’t want to download a client, meebo is exactly the thing for you. You actually don’t even need to register for it. As long as you have one of accounts listed on the homepage, you can sign in and start using. Enjoy!

IMO.im: This free internet chat client is very much like meebo. However, it’s not quite as popular as meebo, since it’s still in alpha. It is another multi-protocol client and has support for MSN, Myspace, Yahoo, and most recently, Skype. In IMO.im, you have the ability to star your favorite buddies, upload buddy icons, and set yourself invisible while you log in. I’ve given it a shot and it looks pretty reliable, but I’m sure more improvements will be made. Sure, it looks a little crude compared to meebo, but the main thing is that it works. Screenshots to come.