Multiprotocol instant messaging application

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A multiprotocol instant messaging application is client software comprised of an IM application which may connect to multiple IM networks. The networks supported include: AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber (including Google Talk, Gizmo, and other Jabber-based networks), MSN Messenger, QQ, Yahoo! Messenger, as well as specialized networks such as Novell GroupWise and Zephyr. Some provide an IM interface to IRC.

The major ad-supported IM networks have at times moved to block multi-protocol clients through rapid small changes to their protocols. At one stage, the Trillian developers made new releases every few days to restore access, as AOL attempted to discourage use of the third-party clients. As of June 2006, there have been no publicized attempts to block multi-protocol clients for over two years.

Jabber itself provides an alternative to directly managing each IM account through the multi-protocol client: IM gateways, or transports. Using transports, connections to the closed IM networks are handled by a gateway on the users Jabber server, while Jabber users talk to each other directly. This seems to function well for users running a private Jabber server, but large public Jabber servers sometimes become the subject of IP blocks from the large networks, or are not able to handle the high load. On the other hand, using a Jabber transport brings several advantages, both for the end user and the programmer of the client: less complexity on the client level, possibility to log in with multiple clients (e.g. mobile phone and computer) to the same account, lower chance for security and privacy risks for the end user thanks to the use of only one connection that can be secured to the Internet and thanks to the fact that people will not know your IP, possibility to archive messages on the Jabber server (as easy as normal Jabber messages) to comply with regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, amongst others.

Contents

[edit] Examples

[edit] Protocol support

[edit] Single protocol clients

[edit] Jabber Clients without any multi-protocol transports

[edit] Jabber Clients using server-sided multi-protocol transports

[edit] Multiprotocol clients

Information on the instant messaging protocols that each client supports.

Number of Supported Protocols AIM ICQ Windows Live Messenger /previously MSN Messenger Yahoo! Messenger IRC XMPP /Jabber, Google Talk, etc Bonjour
/formerly Rendezvous		 Novell GroupWise Messenger Lotus Sametime Gadu-Gadu QQ OTR Others
Adium 17 Yes Yes Yes 16 Yes No Yes Yes 10 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes LiveJournal, Yahoo! Japan, .Mac, Zephyr; extendable through plugins
AIM 02 Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No With proxy No
Ayttm 06 Partial6 Partial6 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
BitlBee 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes 20 No
Centericq 06 Partial6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No ?
climm 02 Partial12 Yes No No No Partial13 No No No No No Yes No
Digsby 08 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No MySpace, Facebook
Ebuddy 05 Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No MySpace IM
EQO 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes No no
Fire 07 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10 No No No No No No
Funpidgin 14 Yes Yes Yes 16 Yes Yes Partial15 Yes 10 Yes Yes Yes Yes With plugin1 SILC, XFire, Zephyr, Blizzard Battle-Net Chat (with plugins)
IBM Lotus Sametime 03 Yes 18 No No Yes 18 No Yes18 No No Yes No No No SIP
iChat 04 Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No .Mac
ICQ 02 Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
imeem 04 Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No ?
IMVU 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No IMVU
Instantbird 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No
Jabberwocky 04 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Kopete 010 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial15 No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Skype (deprecated), WinPopup
Licq 03 Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No ?
MECA Messenger 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No
meebo 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No Livejournal (via jabber)
Meetro 04 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Miranda IM 16 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes With plugin21 Yes Skype, Tlen, LAN,5 Chat,5
Naim 03 Yes Partial No No Yes No No No No No No No Lily
OpenWengo 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No SIP/SIMPLE
Paltalk 03 Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No
Pidgin (formerly Gaim) 14 Yes Yes Yes 16 Yes Yes Partial15 Yes 10 Yes Yes Yes Yes With plugin1 SILC, XFire, Zephyr, Blizzard Battle-Net Chat (with plugins), Skype (with plugin)19, Facebook (with plugin)22
pork 02 Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Proteus 08 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Partial9 No Yes Yes No With proxy Yahoo! Japan
QIP 02 Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
QIP infium 05 Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No Mail.ru Agent, Phoning
Qnext 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No Qnext
SIM 06 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No LiveJournal
talk 02 No No No No No No No No No No No No ntalk, ytalk
Trillian 05 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
Trillian Pro 08 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial14, 15 Yes 10 Yes Yes With plugin1 With plugin1 With plugin1 Skype, XFire (with plugin)
Trillian Astra 09 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial14, 15 Yes 10 Yes Yes With plugin1 With plugin1 No Skype, ASTRA, MySpace, XFire (with plugin)
Windows Live Messenger 02 No No Yes 16 Yes No No No No No No No No No
Windows Messenger 03 No No Yes No No No No No No No No No SIP, EIM
Yahoo! Messenger 03 No No Yes Yes 17 No No No No Yes No No No No
Number of Supported Protocols AIM ICQ Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger) Yahoo! Messenger IRC XMPP /many compatible services, including Google Talk Bonjour
/formerly Rendezvous		 Novell GroupWise Messenger Lotus Sametime Gadu-Gadu QQ OTR Others

Note 1: Plugin available [1]

Note 2: Plugin available

Note 3: Interoperability with proprietary protocols can be achieved using server-side gateways (so-called transports) in Jabber.

Note 4: Plugin available, but requires installed and running Skype.

Note 5: LAN and chat protocols supported for Miranda include NetSend, WinPopup, Novell Netware NCP, BattleNet, Vypress Chat, Quick Chat, and Walla Chat.

Note 6: Uses the AIM TOC2 protocol, which has fewer features than the Oscar protocol the official client uses. An Oscar plugin is available, but is still in early development.

Note 7: Plugin available [2]

Note 8: Can only enter one ICQ/AOL IM account, so users who have both an ICQ number and an AOL IM account name, can't use both.

Note 9: Text-based messaging only; does not support Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.

Note 10: Probably text-based messaging only, without support for Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.

Note 11: Plugin available, but requires Skype to be installed and running.

Note 12: AIM interoperability: can send/receive to AIM from an ICQ account.

Note 13: The support is optional. It currently isn't feature-complete, but basic operations should be fine.

Note 14: Claims to be supported, though frequently fails to receive or deliver messages, and tends to crash when receiving multiuser chat invites or file transfer requests.

Note 15: Feature incomplete. Lacks service discovery and transport support, making user search, multiuser chat, connections to other IM networks via XMPP difficult or impossible.

Note 16: Yahoo! Messenger interoperability: can send/receive to Yahoo! Messenger from a Windows Live Messenger account.

Note 17: Windows Live Messenger interoperability: can send/receive to Windows Live Messenger from a Yahoo! Messenger account.

Note 18: Using IBM Sametime Gateway you can establish a server to server communication to other IM communities. [3]

Note 19: With plug-in, requires Skype to be running, no video or voice support. [4]

Note 20: See post 2008-02-19 02:39 at http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/115#comment:25

Note 21: With using third-party plug-in "MirandaQQ" developed by Stark Wong from Hong Kong. [5]

Note 22: Facebook Chat plugin for Pidgin

[edit] See also

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