Monday 4 June 2007

Best Web based Instant Messengers to choose - A Review

Instant Messaging allows people to exchange text as well as voice messages in real-time. Previously, there were about two to three Instant messengers to install and download with few kilobytes of memory. But later as the technology emerged, more features and plug-ins were added and the installation rose upto 20Mb or so.

IM is vividly becoming an essential workplace tool in lieu of the inefficiencies of email and its lack of real-time communication. Survey found that 76% of organizations have not deployed a formal IM solution, and however willing; because of the numerous security problems, many corporations say no to IM use.

Nowadays, many companies and offices are not allowing the use of IM's. This has led to the growth of web based Instant messengers. The pure web base delivery using hypertext mode is well recognized as the most secured in preventing virus, spy ware and malicious content. There are many web based IM's in the current market and thought of giving you a review of them. Choose your IM ....

Yahoo! Web Messenger

Yahoo! web Messenger is one of the popular instant messaging client. You can logon using your Yahoo! ID and can use it without any cost. One more feature added is that you can chat with friends on MSN. You can just type http://web.im instead of the long url. You can find the Smileys at http://www.wackyb.co.nz/Yahoo!_Web_Messenger_Smileys/. It has a brief collection of Smileys and emotions. A good site to look at.

Link: http://webmessenger.yahoo.com

MSN Web Messenger

It's the web based version of MSN Messenger. It is a nice IM to stay in touch with all your buddies. You need to have an Microsoft® .NET Passport (if you have a Hotmail account you have a "Passport" so this isn't required in addition to), don't have a passport? head to https://accountservices.passport.net/ppnetworkhome.srf It does not allow file sharing and video calls. You can only chat with the ones who are in the same network.

Link: http://webmessenger.msn.com

Meebo

A good example of Web 2.0. Meebo is an Ajax based, cross-platform, multi-protocol IM. You can logon to Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AOL IM, Google Talk, Jebber and ICQ. It runs inside one browser window with multiple DIV based conversation windows. Passwords are encrypted before sending them to the servers for logging in.

Link: http://www.meebo.com

Google Talk Gadget

Google Talk Gadget is a web-based module that you can add to your Google Personalized Homepage, letting you see your friends and chat with them -- all on your homepage. You don't have to download and install software to use it. Just visit google personalized home page. Logon your gmail account and add the Google Talk Gadget to your homepage. Your web based IM is ready to use.

Link: http://www.google.com/ig

IMhaha

IMhaha is a multi-network Web based messenger that supports four of the top instant messaging services including MSN, Yahoo!, AIM and QQ (China’s leading IM with over 200 million active users). You can login multiple IM accounts at the same time and chat simultaneously with as many friends as you like. It uses https protocol so that all your IM account information and messages are encrypted and protected the way your online banking transactions are protected.

Link: http://www.imhaha.com/webmsg/

IMunitive

IMUnitive is a web based IM service allows connect to MSN, Yahoo and AOL. It supports SSL and also transferring of files can be easily done. Also conference feature of IMUnitive allows you to chat with your MSN, AIM and Yahoo buddies in the same conference even those buddies don't know each others.

Link: http://www.imunitive.com

Yafumato Web Messenger

A web-based instant messenger client allowing users to connect to supported messengers (AIM, Yahoo) via HTTP (or HTTPS). The Yafumato server connects to the messengers by proxy and provides a web interface to the user, allowing IM access from anywhere.

Link:http://sourceforge.net/projects/yafumato

Radius IM

It's a social IM and is the only website which shows you where your friends are hanging out and lets you surf for other people based on location. Supports all the major IMs. Log in to radiusIM and choose your location. Your friends will show up in the Friends List to the right and as pictures inside the map. The pictures around the map are other people located somewhere within the map view, but you don’t know exactly where. You can drag or zoom the map to a new place to see new people from that area.

Link: http://www.radiusim.com

I LoveIM

ILoveIM.com provides friendly, light and very easy to use web-based interface with almost all core features from the original Instant Messenger. It's a web messenger application that allows you to stay connected with your favorite Instant Messenger almost anywhere.The best part is that you don't need to install any Java plug-ins to use.

Link: http://www.iloveim.com

Kool IM

It is similar to Meebo handling multiple messengers on one page. Supports Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger. You can use these features without registration also. But you have some additional features of managing your accounts once you signup for an accout.

Link: http://www.koolim.com

eBuddy

eMesseenger or eBuddy was one of the first web-based IM. It's a web application to chat with Yahoo!, MSN and ICQ IMs. One advantage is that it works even if firewall is installed in your network. It has a mobile version too.

Link: http://www.ebuddy.com

Easy Messenger

It also runs entirely on the web browser. Supports all the major known IM's. It has a built-in RSS reader so that you can always be updated on your messages.

Link: http://www.mijnmessenger.nl

Messenger FX

It allows to chat with MSN buddies. The service is extermely good and provides the basic features of any chat and also supports smilies. The service is developed by Yusuf, a talented developer and he has developed the service using ASP.NET and has MS-SQL as the backbone. We can use this when popular sites like Meebo has been blocked and wants to chat with MSN messenger.

Link: http://www10.messengerfx.com

Snimmer

S.N.I.M.M.R. stands for Single Network Instant Messaging Mediation and Relay. SNIMMER can talk to any IM network and can relay instant messages from one IM network to another. Currently one cannot use AOL messenger to chat with users on MSN, Yahoo! or GTalk and vice versa. SNIMMER overcomes instant messenger non-interoperability. SNIMMER has been designed primarily to help webmasters to chat with web visitors on any IM network using any instant messenger.

Link: http://www.snimmer.com

Mabber

It's a mobile application that lets you chat and send messages wherever you are. Required is a recent mobile phone equipped with Java and some sort of data-plan. You can use Mabber either on the web or download the mobile client for your Java-enabled phone. With Mabber you can send messages with low cost, as it is cheaper than using SMS text messaging (1 kb of data allows for about 7 messages). Free to use.

Link: http://www.mabber.com

Robin Good, in his review has brilliently made a google spreadsheet which shows a comparison and list of all the features of these web based IM's. The spreadsheet is best viewed in IE. Please add any more web based IM's that you know which i have not included in this list.

Source [Robin Good's Review]