Computersight -

Instant messaging is not such an old method of communicating, but it has come a long way since its beginnings. I started off when IRC chat was big, and possibly the most used methods. Then along came ICQ for me, and then i switched to Microsoft Messenger. Since then I had to use many services, due to the fact that all people I work with use different services. Luckily there is a new trend in messaging, the aggregation of services, meaning I don’t have to install five applications, either just one, or most recently, I can do it all from my browser.

Can you imagine that you can’t call someone in California from New York, because they have a different mobile carrier? If we compare phones and instant messaging, this is what happens, you wouldn’t be able to call them, you would actually need to sign on with another carrier to be able to do that. At the very least that would mean a new SIM card which you would either need to switch back and forth, or you would need to buy another phone as well.

About two years ago, the trend started and some smart people have been aggregating services, giving you the means to chat with all your friends from one central place. This only gets rid of the problem partly, since you still need to sign up to use these services, but at least the chatting itself (which is the part that counts), is much easier.

There are a few desktop applications, and even browser based solutions which could help you. I found out about Trillian about a year ago and even bought the license to it. You can use it fine without buying it, you will be able to sign in to many services, like Live Messenger (previously MSN messenger), Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Gtalk, Jabber and even Skype, although Skype integration is far from perfect. You can use the license to sign in with multiple accounts. I use this to separate my business life with my personal, I have both accounts on Live Messenger for example.

Another great solution is Pidgin (previously Gaim), that is a similar desktop client for all your instant messaging needs. It is much the same as Trillian, but for some reason Trillian was more appealing to me. I found that it was much easier to manage my identities and connections there, but Pidgin is a very capable cross platform client, so I can only recommend it. The people at Trillian are also very cool, they actually helped the guys at Pidgin solve an issue with integrating Yahoo messenger, now that’s sportsmanship!

Maybe the best solution, I am starting to use it more and more, is Meebo, a web based messaging client. This means that you don’t need to install anything, just point your browser to the Meebo web page, and sign in to your account. If you want to sign in to more than one account at the same time, you need to sign up for a Meebo account. It’s totally free and using it will also sign you in to all your networks instantly. Meebo supports multiple logins to the same network, chat rooms, file transfer and shared applications. In many ways Meebo is the pioneer of internet chat and deserve their popularity, since the app is one of the best on the net.

Overall, all these services try to revolutionize chat. They get rid of the gap between the users of different networks, and enable you to chat with anyone anywhere. There is still a gap to close, it would be nice to be able to use a sort of global chat, without the need to sign up for an account.

Open ID may be the way forward in this department, since I don’t suppose that different companies will stop producing their clients and team up. Do you see Yahoo and Microsoft joining forces anytime soon? Well Open ID is a single ID you create and can use to sign in to many services on the net. If the clients would open up the gates to Open ID, you wouldn’t need to register with each of them, you could just use your Open ID.
We’ll see what the future brings, but with the freedom of the net, it seems a waste that people are hindered in their communication because they need to sign up for at least six accounts to cover the larger bases.