Internet chat

There are various free Internet "chat" systems that allow real-time typed or voice/video conversations, one-on-one or in groups.

Chat systems not covered here include Web-based chat sometimes provided for individually on Web sites, and other miscellaneous chat systems with smaller user bases.

Instant Messaging (IM)

Instant messaging is currently racked by the throes of change. You'll probably need to look at this whole section if you want to know what's going on. As of 2006/2007, for most people who want to use IM to text chat with friends and colleagues, I recommend a free multi-network alternative IM client, such as Pidgin, Miranda, Trillian Basic, or perhaps Adium if you're on Mac OS X.

Maybe you're thinking, "What's wrong with just texting on my cell phone?" Four words: full standard pitch keyboard.

All four proprietary IM clients are available for free download; you don't need an AOL account or a Microsoft Hotmail address to use them, just Internet access and an email address. For more detail see the IM page from How Stuff Works. As of 3rd quarter 2005, AIM/ICQ had the most IM users, with Yahoo! Messenger in second place and MSN in third.

AOL acquired ICQ in 1998. AIM and ICQ users are supposed to be able to IM each other, if they have recent-enough versions of the AIM and ICQ programs. So if you have an ICQ account now you probably don't need one on AIM, or vice versa.

Yahoo! and Microsoft announced 12 October 2005 they would connect the Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger networks by June 2006. Users of Windows Live Messenger (WLM), which replaced MSN Messenger, are supposed to be able to chat with Yahoo! Messenger users with current software. According to the Wikipedia WLM page, the WLM/Yahoo connection was launched 12 July 2006. WLM requires Windows XP or Windows Vista; users of earlier Windows versions have only the older MSN Messenger available from Microsoft, which doesn't support the connection to Yahoo.

Multi-network IM

You don't have to choose between the proprietary IM networks. A multi-network IM client is one program you can use to talk to people on several different IM networks, including people using the proprietary clients. For example, you can have chat windows open at the same time to an AIM user and a Yahoo Messenger user, who still can't talk to each other.

Pidgin used to be called Gaim. The Gaim developers were beset with several waves of attempted legal intimidation by AOL, the last phase of which delayed the release of 2.0.0 for more than a year. Reportedly there is now a legal settlement in place.

Here are signup links where you can get IM logins to use with Pidgin, Miranda, Trillian, Adium, or the third-party multi-network IM client of your choice. Since MSN Messenger has morphed into Windows Live Messenger, and Passport is also a retired buzzword at Microsoft now, the MSN Messenger link may or may not work.

All you should need to sign up for these IM login IDs is Internet access, any web browser, and an email address.

You don't need logins on all four networks. AOL acquired ICQ in 1998, and their users have been able to chat with each other for a while. Yahoo and MSN/Microsoft connected their IM networks in July 2006 (see the IM section above) so presumably now a Pidgin, Miranda, Trillian, or Adium user would only need two IM logins to talk to people on all four networks.

I recommend AIM plus Yahoo. You'll be unable to chat with MSN Messenger users on older Windows versions, but there should be very few users with Windows versions older than XP now anyway, especially since the mid-2006 support sunset for 98/ME. Second choice would be AIM plus MSN/WLM.

Jabber, GoogleTalk, SILCnet

Jabber and SILCnet are alternative IM protocols; GoogleTalk is a set of IM clients using the Jabber protocol.

Google introduced a new GoogleTalk IM/voice chat service and client 24 August 2005. The GoogleTalk client requires Windows 2000/XP and a Gmail Web-mail account. It looks like GoogleTalk is also now available as a browser widget. GoogleTalk IM is reportedly based on the open-source Jabber IM protocol, and users of multi-network IM clients such as Pidgin and Trillian (see above) should therefore be able to chat with GoogleTalk users.

The GoogleTalk FAQ poses the question (paraphrased here) "Can I use GoogleTalk to chat with users of proprietary IM systems such as ICQ and Yahoo Messenger?" and then doesn't give a straight answer. They state they support open standards and then go on to talk about alternative clients such as Pidgin and Trillian that can connect to GoogleTalk and to the older networks. So as I read it, the straight answer to the FAQ question is No. So although the Jabber protocol GoogleTalk is using supports gateway service to the proprietary networks, apparently the GoogleTalk clients, widget and installed, do not.

I suspect the open Jabber protocol and clients like GoogleTalk, Exodus, and Gabber probably represent the future of online text chat. That's if text chat doesn't get eclipsed by audio/video. I'd guess the more fuss AOL, MSN and Yahoo make about third-party IM clients like Pidgin, Miranda, Trillian, and Adium in the short term, the faster the shift to Jabber will happen. As of 3rd quarter 2005 most IM users were still using one of the proprietary IM clients.

VoIP

By the way, it's pronounced teh-LEF-a-nee, with the emphasis on the second syllable. It makes the systems geeks cranky if you say tele-phony.

VoIP (Voice over IP) is Internet telephony, which lets you make voice phone calls via data packets over the Internet instead of through the conventional telephone network. You're going to need a broadband Internet connection, DSL or cable modem or better, for this to work. This packet-switching phone technology is being used more and more by both individuals and telecommunications companies, and it's thought that in one form or another it will eventually completely replace conventional phone networks.

VoIP is very much in flux. It's like the Wild West out there, with different systems and technologies fighting it out for supremacy. Figuring this stuff out is probably not for Aunt Maude who has trouble with the garage door.

The most widely used VoIP protocol is H.323, a complex protocol suite originally designed for video conferencing by the ITU, which includes video protocols. SIP, the other common VoIP protocol, is simpler and designed just for VoIP.

VoIP advantages	• Lower cost, maybe free for certain call types after ISP broadband charges. • Mobility: you can make a VoIP call from anywhere you have broadband Internet, which is nice for people who travel. • Advanced phone features like caller ID, call waiting, repeat dial, and three-way calling can easily be supported on VoIP.
VoIP disadvantages	• Reliability. Old-school hard-wired phones run on power coming from the central office, so they keep working when the ordinary wall-socket power goes off. VoIP phones, PCs, and conventional cordless phones all need wall-socket power. VoIP is also subject to all possible Internet glitches such as throughput issues, latency, downtime, packet loss. • 911/emergency calls can be a problem. Since a VoIP phone is based on an IP address rather than a conventional phone number, there's no natural association between a VoIP phone and a geographic location. Technical fixes are available or in the works. • Other systems, such as digital video recorders and home security systems, tend to be designed around the assumption that a conventional phone line will be available.

VoIP advantages

• Lower cost, maybe free for certain call types after ISP broadband charges.
• Mobility: you can make a VoIP call from anywhere you have broadband Internet, which is nice for people who travel.
• Advanced phone features like caller ID, call waiting, repeat dial, and three-way calling can easily be supported on VoIP.

VoIP disadvantages

• Reliability. Old-school hard-wired phones run on power coming from the central office, so they keep working when the ordinary wall-socket power goes off. VoIP phones, PCs, and conventional cordless phones all need wall-socket power. VoIP is also subject to all possible Internet glitches such as throughput issues, latency, downtime, packet loss.
• 911/emergency calls can be a problem. Since a VoIP phone is based on an IP address rather than a conventional phone number, there's no natural association between a VoIP phone and a geographic location. Technical fixes are available or in the works.
• Other systems, such as digital video recorders and home security systems, tend to be designed around the assumption that a conventional phone line will be available.

Definitions

Links

Video chat

Whatever software you use, you will need a PC-style digital camera, often called a Webcam, that can be perched on your monitor or laptop display, in addition to what's needed for VoIP (broadband Internet connection and microphone/speakers or headset). Many camera models are available with different features; some of them can even be used unplugged to take digital stills and video.

You want the camera as close to your display as possible, in order to minimize the subjective impression that you're not looking the other person in the eye. You're going to be looking mostly at the display window showing their video, which will have to be a few inches away from the camera that's showing them you.

IRC

Fair warning: Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is not everyone's cup of tea. IRC is maybe the prime example of semi-functional anarchy on the Internet. Something can be found to offend pretty much everyone on IRC channels, on many networks.

In fact, like email and Usenet newsgroups, IRC existed before the Web was invented.

IRC does let you have real-time text conversations with people from all Net-using countries. IRC is older and more geek-infested than IM, and you may prefer to have a separate IRC client, if you use IRC at all. There are dozens of networks of IRC servers you can connect to, with each network serving a community of users.

If you're on Windows and you can stand IRC, by all means get mIRC. It's the easiest Windows IRC client to use, and has lots of useful features. The mIRC Help topics also make a good introduction to both the mIRC program and the IRC protocol. Something like eighty percent of IRC users are using mIRC, so it's pretty easy to get help. mIRC is available from www.mirc.com and its various mirrors, and from other shareware and download sites.

Most IM clients, both proprietary and multi-network, can also connect to IRC, and you may prefer the single interface.

Colloquy is just a ten-cent English word that means "conversation." Snak is a Danish word that means "chat."

Colloquy is an IRC and SILC client for Mac OS X, that seems to be well-integrated with the OS X environment. Snak is a shareware Mac OS X IRC client with interesting features. Snak versions through 4.12 ran on OS X or OS 9; Snak 5+ is OS X only.

Before OS X, Mac IRC users mostly seemed to use ircle. They usually weren't too enthusiastic about it compared to mIRC, but it seemed to be the best thing available. Ircle is still being updated.

Xchat is a nice-looking Linux IRC client that runs in Gnome. There are also old-school command-line text-only IRC clients available for Unix/Linux, if that sort of thing floats your boat.