Instant Messaging?

[Vic]

Hi All.

How many of you use IM? Which one? Do you use it for work or personal use? How often do you use it?

I'm just putting together some IM services, and I want to get an idea of what the popular protocols are...

Vic.
[whose openSER build has just finished. 34 new packages, and I don't know what to do with them yet... :-) ]

[Baggpuss]

MSN, or live messenger as they are now calling it. Really annoying program as it seems to find errors not to connect all the time. But its the one everyone seems to use so i live with it.

Have used ICQ in the past tho, which although ran better than msn (without the connection bugs anyway) its UI and the way it worked just got annoying,

[JonoF]

Msn, 'ere. Mainly cos it's what all my mates used so it made sense to get the same. *shrugs*

Used to use Xfire, until my ex girlfriend found out my username. Couldn't be bothered to make a new one after that.

[Jonny2Bad]

Msn, xfire and steam. Depends on who im talking to really but they all generally run on my machine tbh

[Methanoid]

No-one using multi protocol progs like Trillian?

[jonbanjo]

I used to be a fan of ICQ but it's years since I used it. At one point, I'd be chatting with an American friend every night for an hr or so.

We (or the folk music interests of mine) sort of moved on when Hearme came around. We could take it in turns giving a song or tune almost live! It was exciting then. Hearme went bust and we moved on to Paltalk but for one reason or other, I eventually dropped out.

I'd guess these days, some although certainly not all of these sorts of needs are more likely to find homes on myspace, etc. ???

[Brad]

Aim mostly but MSN too. Used pidgin alittle but sending files and web cam set up is very limited meaning i run both over a single program.

[Ajhayter]

I used to use MSN... not so much now...

A friend of mine has a server for his small business, and he runs a private IRC channel on that, so all of my mates just jump on there and natter away.

Otherwise, ususally steam or forums.
For Simiancage we mostly just jump on teamspeak.

[Zach]

Facebook IM is quite good. I mainly use live messenger however, some friends i dont have on msn are on my facebook so its quite convenient. Its nice and simple too :)

[Andrew Moore]

Anyone use skype? Ive just set it up and im using it with the girlfriend and a few family members as like a "trial" i must admit, its far better than msn, seems to be alot more responsive and works all the time! it even runs when msn doesnt want to and considering i have 20meg broadband and msn seems to find time out issues skype is the new must for me! gettins friends to get involved mind i feel may be difficult! anyone actually tried skype?

Andy

[Zach]

I always thought Skype was only Microphone based.

[Andrew Moore]

No the new skype has an instant messaging section, most of the lads that i know on WoW (hides head in shame) use it but i dont talk to them on there... It does work well I must say with little to no lag and it has a bunch of cool smileys just like msn! sorted ;)

Andy

[jonbanjo]

My parents have Skype and I had it. It was to keep in touch with my brother and family who now are in Queensland but it never really got used. At times it got as silly as phoning to say "when can we Skype". Suffice it to say that phone is the method now.

---
Bagpuss, I don't remember disliking the ICQ interface and liked the way you could run your own mini server with it. At one time when one website was doing it's weekly "folk radio show", I'd open up a "room" and maybe we could have up to 20 people chatting about the show (and with the show host) and all "powered" by a little machine using dial up networking. In some ways, I think it was strong and required little in the way of resources.

[tobes]

No the new skype has an instant messaging section, most of the lads that i know on WoW (hides head in shame) use it but i dont talk to them on there... It does work well I must say with little to no lag and it has a bunch of cool smileys just like msn! sorted

Surley x-fire is better at freeing up ram and in game messaging as it pops up in a little clear window whilst your gaming?

I used to use msn and icq, not so much nowadays, Skype is good and of course x-fire. Never used aim or pidgen or other multi chat programs.

[Baggpuss]

No-one using multi protocol progs like Trillian?

Tried it once. Didnt like it, plus im pretty selective about who ends up on my contact lists for im services anyway, so if they want to talk to me msn was the best way to do it, thus eliminating the need for Trillian.

[Urrys Currys]

MSN/Windows Live, Steam, X-Fire, Skype, Yahoo! bit of all really. depends on what console im playing, what game and whos online.

[The Underdog]

Tried Trillian - it sucks.
Live Messenger - ok but buggy.
Xfire - not bad but it lacks some I the only good thing about it is there is no e-mail part to using it and the in game chat.
Skype - rarely used but works fine.
IRC - not really a fan of it so much as it looks pretty boring plus server operators can see everything.

[coursemyhorse]

Very very Occasionally use steam chat
Occasionally use MSN
Very often use office communicator at work

[chipbricks]

I am using jabber with MSN and all other transports.

[Youngie1337]

Never use IM, and if I do it's for gaming and communicating.

I use Xfire.

[pinfoldp]

- Live Messenger
- Skype - Love this, use it for video chat too :-)

[dozyla]

I use a few:
MSN for conversations
GoogleTalk is my net isnt working
Yahoo messenger if I want to use my webcam :)

[Mr. Orange]

Just Windows Live Messenger(MSN) for me.

[themcman1]

MSN
Skype.
Steam ingame :)

Don't use Skype much, but am going to set up multiple MSN accounts to keep personal and business seperate.

[Winston]

I use MSN here too. I switched from WLM tut a while back even though you can apply patches to improve it. Pidgin is great!!! :)

[cje]

windows live as it's called now.

Used to use ICQ, only because one or two people I knew didn't use MSN. I stopped using ICQ due to it's UI and clunky messy nature.

[KyleG]

-MSN
-Xfire
-Steam

[Recoil]

I just use Windows Live Messenger. Everyone else uses it, and it does the job :)

R

[Winston]

I just use Windows Live Messenger. Everyone else uses it, and it does the job :)

R

Do you not find it bloated with rubbish though. I like applications that don't have lots of rubbish that never gets used and especially apps that are free of advertising. If you ever feel like a change, try pidgin. You can keep WLM installed whilst you test it. Just a suggestion. :)

[Recoil]

Do you not find it bloated with rubbish though. I like applications that don't have lots of rubbish that never gets used and especially apps that are free of advertising. If you ever feel like a change, try pidgin. You can keep WLM installed whilst you test it. Just a suggestion. :)

In a way, i suppose it is bloated.. but it seems fine overall. Maybe i will give pidgin it a go :)

R

[soundb0y]

just use windows live msn and occasionally xfire

[Crazy BigGaz]

I use MSN/Live messenger for personal use, currently about once a week, as I forget to load it most the time.