Rejoice, Users of XMPP Networks!
Version 0.10 of Psi, the best cross-platform GUI XMPP client I know of, has been released. If you are interested in using Jabber, this is an excellent client to use. The new version tightens up the interface a bit, letting you choose whether to use one or several chat windows when chatting with a number of buddies, using the “tabbed window” metaphor made so popular by Firefox. It’s also suspend-aware now, which avoids that up-to-now problem by which, if a laptop user forgot to make himself offline, his status would not change until the server literally timed out when trying to contact the client. I use this software under Linux and Windows, and it will also run under OS X. If you are interested in replacing Trillian or another multi-network client, give Psi a chance. You will need a Jabber account on a server with the appropriate transports enabled, but that will be easy to come by. Plus, you get the benefit of a service that can handle multiple chat clients per-user, with configurable message delivery priority. No more forgetting to log out of ICQ before leaving for work, crippling your chatting prospects for the rest of the day! Hm. Maybe I should find/write and link a page detailing the advantages and disadvantages of using Jabber…Monthly Archive for January, 2006
Page 2 of 2
And What It Means To You, Me and Everyone
Google is now serious about what they are calling “Service Choice”. What this means is that Google Talk, which was already running on a XMPP server, is now allowing communications with other XMPP servers, most notably Jabber, which a number of us provide as a service of our little amateur ISPs via the open-source jabberd. In turn, jabberd supports transports, which are plugins that allow the server to log into other chat networks on users’ behalf, adding those networks’ contacts into the Jabber roster. Users of my own Jabber server have access to their AIM, ICQ, Yahoo! IM and MSN contacts, as well as any contacts on XMPP-compliant networks. Now they will also have access to Google Talk users, making it possible to consolidate all of the major chat networks under one login process, and in one client. Google says that they want to make IM as ubiquitous as email, and they’ve taken great steps to make sure they’re pushing it in the right direction.
Recent Comments