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I use gmail and I havent touched google talk

Same here, but I would if more people used it. I think that's what (nearly) everyone thinks; it's a Catch-22 of sorts.

Edited 2007-06-07 21:05

Since I use GMail, I dropped MSN Messenger for Google Talk (Jabber) that I'm using with Gajim under GNU/Linux.

Many of my friends followed me, not by dropping MSN but began using Google Talk (Jabber).

Sorry for my English.

The only thing that's kept me with MSN is the ability to create a screen/sign-in name that uses your existing EMail address (by setting up a passport account tied to your regular EMail address and using that account for MSN, rather than a hotmail/msn.com/whatever address).

It looks like you *can* do that with GTalk if you sign up for the "google apps for domains" service - which requires a bit more jumping through hoops, but it's probably a bit more convenient long-term if you need to add multiple IM accounts tied to the same domain.

"he only thing that's kept me with MSN is the ability to create a screen/sign-in name that uses your existing EMail address (by setting up a passport account tied to your regular EMail address and using that account for MSN, rather than a hotmail/msn.com/whatever address). "

The same explaination would be enough reason for me not to use MSN. :-) I like the concepts of having mail separated from IM systems, and using separate IM clients for each IM service. But I only use Jabber (apps: Gabber, PSI), along with X-Chat for all other stuff - or imcom and bitchx if console apps are needed.

"That's useful sometimes, but not always."

Like always: Use the correct tool for each task.

"E.g., if you use IM for work-related communication, it generally looks a lot more professional to have user@domain.com, rather than joeblow6789@hotmail.com. Also helps to save space on business cards"

This is true because it does not primarily imply you're using a MICROS~1 service. Additionally, you don't need to tell anyone the given mail address can also be used with "MSN", of course. :-)

If you reread his statement this is exactly what he says. He says he sticks to MSN Messenger because he can use his company e-mail address as MSN Messenger username instead of having a bob@hotmail.com e-mail address.

"If you reread his statement this is exactly what he says. He says he sticks to MSN Messenger because he can use his company e-mail address as MSN Messenger username instead of having a bob@hotmail.com e-mail address."

I did understand this. (It may work similar with mail addresses with the Jabber service.) I just liked to point out that I personally tend to use completely separated services, one for each designated audience, which may be seen as a security related decision. Giving someone one of my mail addresses does not provide him a possibility to include me in some IM client. Everyone is free to choose differently, of course.

As I pointed out in my reply to his reply, you don't need to tell anyone the mail address can be used as an "MSN" account.

PS. According to your example above: You know what MICROS~1 Bob is? Interesting to see it has an "MSN" account... :-)

I use Exodus for work, as my web host supports Jabber

Oh, and this way I don't mix with my friends who are all on Windows Live Messenger

>> MSN is what people use and so do I.
Probably in US. I don't know anyone who uses MSN.
100% of people i working with (international), use icq/skype.
Anyway, on Windows i prefer Miranda =)
Too bad, there are no comparable program on my Linux desktop.

Probably in US. I don't know anyone who uses MSN.

In northern Europe too, apparently..I know only one person who uses ICQ, and around 50% of the people I know use Skype..But 100% of them use MSN..

Same here in Canada, from what I've seen.

And in New Zealand, MSN's pretty much the only one here. I'm told AIM is bigger in the States?
ICQ was bigger early on, but it's all but vanished - probably because of that stupid number system of theirs.

I know quite a few people who are on GTalk now, probably because it has a convenient web-based front end, something MS ignored for way too long. Still, it's interesting how fragmented IM is worldwide; it surprises me, given the obvious huge network effects.

MSN is not at all popular around here, or anywhere I've been. I looked through the logs of the firewall on the county school district system (one of the largest school districts in the US) and there were tons of people trying to get on AIM from school computers, which was not included on them, and very few tried to get on MSN, which is included on Windows. The story is similiar at both UCF and UF, which are both in the top 6 largest universities in the US. I have a feeling the parent isn't in the US? From what I've seen on my website, it seems like MSN is extremely popular in eastern europe and especially england.

As long as we're relating anecdotes..

AIM, MSN and ICQ are about evenly represented in my contacts list. A lot of it is due to history: AIM is mostly from when I used AOL *shame*. I started using ICQ when most people I was communicating with were using it (about the time AOL bought them). Later on a bunch of people were using MSN.

Right now I have about 25 contacts each with AIM, ICQ and MSN. I have 2 Yahoo contacts and 1 Jabber contact.

Trillian introduced me to multi system IMs. It got restrictive feeling to Miranda came next. After switching to Linux, GAIM worked for a while, then I switched to Kopete as soon as it was usable. Nothing wrong with Gaim, I just happen to use KDE. All were well usable.

A lot of people like using Jabber to access AIM, MSN and the rest and I tried it, but didn't stick with it when it became apparent the third party Jabber server had to have access to name and password so they could pass it on to the various services. I wasn't entirely comfortable with that.

Edited 2007-06-08 06:45 UTC

I haven't seen anybody using MSN and I'm in eastern europe. People are mostly using ICQ/Skype here.

I've been using GAIM (Pidgin) for a long time but now I'm using Adium on Mac all the time...

Edited 2007-06-08 07:34

I agree. The level of customisation with plug-ins is excellent. I've combined four IMs into Miranda and it's only using 1.5MB of memory.

Can't argue with that.

Kopete does it too :-)

well miranda has a webcam framework in place, but the legality of the msn webcam code thats out there, and that its using vlc for some basics makes people on the miranda forum less then enthusiastic about working on that final step.

It's a HUGE pain in the rear to configure exactly how you want it

Oh god, yes. That's what kept me away from it for a long time, but I recently downloaded Mir4nda IM Pack, one of the Miranda 'distributions' that comes with all of the plugins you need to make it decent. I wasn't a big fan of Mir4nda, but it provided me with a handy selection of plugins to copy to a vanilla copy of Miranda, and now I am a happy Miranda IM convert.

Chuck can you tell me what web host you use ? I have been thinking of such a service but could not find any.

I use Dreamhost, in their control panel there's a section where you can create Jabber users. If I knew I wouldn't be modded down, I would give you a $97 discount coupon, but these days, everything is considered unethical or spam.

I also use Kopete and yes, it does support webcam at least on the MSN protocol through V4L2 on Linux. Don't know about Yahoo and the others as I don't use them. The way how Kopete is integrated with KDE though is what makes its killer feature. Otherwise, I'd be satisfied with Pidgin even without no multimedia support at all.