What are you looking for in an instant messenger?
 

Because Google Talk just came out, I was left wondering about what people are really looking for an instant messenger. As I was using Google Talk, it kinda felt like a mac application because I couldn't really...DO anything with it. Except talk. And voice chat. But even talk is limited, without capability for fonts, smileys, and what not. While I do understand that Google is striving for that popular "clean", white uncluttered look that dominates all their applications, do you think that Google Talk works well with that?

What do you guys think of it? What do you wish instant messengers had? I personally believe it's unfortunate that the most popular Instant Messenger happens to be the worst one (AIM).

I know one of the most vaunted for feature is Interoperability; do you see MSN, Yahoo and AOL ever interoperating with each other?

Also, which is better - to have lots of unique features like Voice Chat, Video Chat, Games, Internet Radio (Yahoo), or just have a spartan interface like Google Talk?

I look for nothing as I try not to ever use them. IRC though is the way to go, always has been, always will be.

In a lot of ways, I prefer IMs to NOT use smileys. It gives you more options, eg:

:)
:o)
:-)

as 'simple' smileys, instead of just one default one. . .

But what Google Talk really needs is cross-platform webcam support. No other IM service I'm aware of allows a Windows user , a Linux user, and a Mac user, to chat with each other with webcams running.

If Google could get that, they'd probably win over a major chunk of the non-Windows world, and quite a number of Windows users who chat to the non-Windows world.

Or maybe if they integrated P2P with their IM service - it's not like Google can't spare the bandwidth. . .

Unfortunately, I think MSN Messenger is the best IM client I've ever used. In Linux, the best I've come across is Mercury which I use these days, it's very close...

All I need is simple text chat. Voice and file transfer are nice extra options. Of course, everything must be encrypted and server location, but peer-to-peer communication is a must as well.

All I need is chat.. with a few smilies, a clean interface (ichat), ability to view/edit profile.. and sending files.. thats it

For voice and WebCam support for yahoo messenger you can try gyach :
1. Download http://www.politicalcrossfire.com/te...nstall.tar.bz2 , and save it to your home directory (important!).

2. Run these commands in the terminal, in sequential order:
Code:

tar -xjf gyach-install.tar.bz2
cd gyach
sudo ./install

gaim-vv is another choice

Wow thread revival.

I like GAIM, very clean interface, and supports a number of protocols. I only use two, Gtalk(jabber) and AIM, but it's good to know there are others there. I also like the integrated Gtalk client in the gmail site, which allows for chat w/out having a chat program installed

Non-stupid features :p
I really can't see the point of MSNs nudge or widgets...

Webcam and speech support is nice features I miss in many clients on Linux...

Anyone know if there is any webcam support project for the Jabber/XMPP protocol?