It’s time for you to learn how to save yourself a lot of time at every startup and automate the process of joining your favorite IRC servers and channels. This is, by the way, another reason why HydraIRC is the superior client to those of you who are new to the chat universe. Creating “scripts” is incredibly simple and intuitive.

Let’s start off by going into the Options menu and clicking Prefs…. A window of preferences should then pop up for you.

On the left, click Scripts. At this point, you should see a single option of “SomeNetwork_OnLoggedIn“.

In my screenshot, you’ll see many more because I’ve set up autojoins on several servers. Nonetheless, this is an example script profile that HydraIRC has created for you. Using it alone, some users can gauge how to set up their scripts. You can learn a little more about command/script profiles on the official website, but let me do some basic explaining.

HydraIRC has three built-in profile name suffixes that trigger the program to automatically execute a script. These three are as follows:

• OnStartUp, which will execute the script immediately when the application is launched.
• OnLoggedIn, which will execute the script when you have joined a particular server.
• OnJoin, which will execute the script when you join a particular channel.

By creating profiles with the names “OnStartUp”, “{SERVER}_OnLoggedIn”, or “~{SERVER}_{CHANNEL}_OnJoin”, you are authorizing HydraIRC to automatically execute the scripts during those conditions. If we wanted a script to automatically execute when we join the EFNet server, we’d name the profile “EFNet_OnLoggedIn“. If we wanted to execute the script only when we join the #chat channel on EFNet, we’d name it “~EFNet_#chat_OnJoin“.

Let’s go over an example. We’ll use GameSurge, as we did in my first post. By default, it is included with HydraIRC. On the server list, it is given the exact name “GameSurge” (which will need to be exact, case sensitive, in the profile name).

On Gamesurge, we’d like to automatically join #sourcemod, #gamesurge, and #linux when we connect. So we’ve done the hard part. Now here’s our script, “GameSurge_OnLoggedIn”:

/quietjoin sourcemode,gamesurge,linux

It’s very simple. The “/quietjoin” command is ideal when you’re joining multiple channels at once as it softens each join. Afterwards, the channel names (pound signs are not required) delimited by commas.

Now what if you want to automatically join GameSurge every time you launch HydraIRC? That’s simple also. Your script profile would be “OnStartUp”:

/server irc.gamesurge.net

That’s it. At this point, when you start HydraIRC you’d now automatically connect to the GameSurge server and automatically join those three channels. Do you want to connect to multiple servers on startup? Just add a new line with the following (with FreeNode in this example):

/newserver irc.freenode.net

Every power IRC uses user scripts. Automation is one of my favorite things in the world, and you’ll find that automating certain parts of your chatting experience will allow you to do what you came to do – enjoy it. If I’ve still been unable to convince you that HydraIRC is the way to go, check out a few interesting scripts for mIRC.

Holler at me in the comments if you’re having trouble or want to share any more useful scripts for the IRC platform.

I’m not even going to pretend. I was 5 or 6 years old back in 1995 so this is well before my time, too. In the age of social networking and Internet 2.0, web-based chat rooms are practically dead. They’re all but done with; on the endangered list. Still, IRC is the most popular server/client chat protocol in the world. Maybe the rooms aren’t as active as they were 10+ years ago, but we’ve still got a pulse!

Some boredom and curiosity mixed well together and I’ve rediscovered IRC just recently. Now, I’d like to show you how to use my favorite IRC client, HydraIRC. There are a lot of multi-IM clients (like Trillian) that support the IRC protocol, but nothing really beats the efficiency and oldschool feel of a standalone chat client. You’ve probably heard of mIRC, the most popular IRC client, but here’s a few reasons why I love Hydra:

• It is portable. Download the ZIP and extract it to wherever you like. Put it in your Dropbox or on a flash drive. Portable applications beat out self-installing packages every day of the week.
• It is lightweight. mIRC is a little bulky for me.
• It is free. Everyone loves things that are free.
• It supports everything that you need in an IRC client: multiple servers, DCC, event logs, channel monitoring, an extremely flexible GUI, and more.

You can check out some more, official screenshots at the official HydraIRC website.

Anyway, rusty IRC legend or complete newbie, let’s get you started. Get HydraIRC downloaded. Next step is to figure out where you want to chat and what about, right? You want to go into the File menu, then New Server. Hydra comes preloaded with loads of the most popular IRC servers.

Now it’s on you to pick the network (and associated server) that you want. You can either query up Google and learn a bit about each, or experience can guide you. FreeNode has tons of channels for coding, tech support, general hacking, networking, and things of that nature. EFNet is your oldschool “general” server. QuakeNet and GameSurge are for gamers, and so on.
For this example, let’s go ahead and go on GameSurge. Double click GameSurge, click the IRC server that expands beneath it, and then click OK to connect.

Every server consists of many channels (or rooms). Upon connecting, the Channel List window will pop up. If it doesn’t, you can click into the Channel menu and then Channel List. Click Populate List and after a second, you’ll have a list of every channel on the server. Click the Users header once and you’ll have sorted the channels by the most users. Scroll through, see if there are any you may be interested in, and then click Join.

This is how you join an IRC server and a channel (the easy way). There are hundreds and hundreds of servers out there and thousands of channels. There’s probably an active channel for just about any subject that comes to mind. It’s good to have it sitting in your taskbar for idle moments in between tasks.

If you need any help or want to dive deeper into the subject, let’s chat in the comments. If you really like IRC chatting, consider setting up your own IRC channel and read our post on that.

Recently, I started exploring the potential of using bots on my website to interact with my visitors. After accomplishing that task, I thought that it might be worthwhile to explore what other bots still exist out there that might have some useful features. Most people have their chat client always open and sitting off to the side or at the bottom of the screen, so why not put that chat client to use while it’s open?

The Ebb & Flow Of Chatbots

If you’ve ever started using chatbots even just a few years ago, you’ve probably noticed that a vast majority of them have fallen by the wayside. All sorts of bots that used to let you do things like search different search engines, get task reminders or get RSS feeds via IM are now no longer active. These days, it’s pretty difficult to find a service that offers up RSS feeds via IM.

That seems to be the case for Gtalk bots, but not so much Twitter. Kyle wrote about 10 Twitter bots here at MUO back in 2008, and those Twitter bots are mostly all still active. But in my opinion, having access to information in Google Talk is really useful, and thankfully there are still some really good Gtalk bots out there.

ExclaimBot

If you just want to make quick updates to your Twitter profile, then ExclaimBot is the way to go. It’s actually spelled “excla.im“.

What I like about this Bot is its simplicity. You visit the site, provide authorization for it to post to your Twitter account, and you’re done. Just add exclaimbot@appspot.com to your friends list in Google Talk, and everything you send that user will get posted to your Twitter account instantly.

The only drawback is that you won’t be able to automatically shorten URL links, but using some external service like Bitly, that’s not a problem.

Now you don’t have to open a new browser or any desktop client to post a quick Twitter update, just type it up in Gtalk, hit enter and you’re done. Another good service for this, by the way, is ChitterIM. Either service works just as well.

Google Guru

If you’re looking for an all-around useful bot that does a whole list of tasks, you can’t go wrong by adding guru@googlelabs.com to your buddy list. Send the command “weather boston, ma“, and you’ll get the current weather conditions, as well as a quick forecast for that area. Send it “define ironic” and you’ll receive a definition of the word. Type “web Android” and you’ll get a Wikipedia blurb of the term as well as a mobile link to full search engine results.

There’s just a short list of commands available – score, weather, define and translate – plus you can type in math calculations and the guru will solve it for you.

Get RSS Feeds With Push-Bot

After hunting around for hours to find a Gtalk bot that would serve up RSS feeds via IM, I was really excited to discover that Push-Bot is still available. Most of the popular ones written about at sites like Lifehacker and Labnol are no longer active, so I was getting very disappointed before discovering Push-Bot.

Using the service is ridiculously easy. Type /subscribe or /unsubscribe followed by the URL to add or remove a feed from your list. Use /list-subscriptions to see all of the feeds that you’ve subscribed to. Whenever one of your feeds updates, you’ll get a message in Gtalk from Push-Bot with the update and a link. This is my favorite Gtalk bot.

Xpenser For Tracking Business Expenses

At this point in my life, I have to track several areas of expenses. When I’m off to training for my day job, I need to keep track of all costs so that I can fill out an expense report. For my online business, I need to track all expenses for tax purposes. In either case, Xpenser gives me the convenience that I need to record those expenses right from my phone using Gtalk. This is my second favorite Gtalk bot.

First, you’ll need to sign up for an Xpenser account where all of your entries will get logged.

After that, add xpenserbot@gmail.com to your buddy list. All you have to do is send it the expense, the amount, and ending notes. The bot will fill out that record for you on your expense report in your Xpenser account.

You can log in later to see all of the entries you’ve made while you were away from your computer.

This is easily the fastest and most convenient way to log expenses right away before you forget. Firing off a one-line instant message is even easier than most of the mobile apps available today that will do expense tracking for you.

Take Quick Notes With MayaFile

If your memory is anything like mine, then the mayafile Gtalk bot will be a lifesaver for you too. Using it couldn’t be any easier. Just add talk@mayafile.com to your buddy list, and then use the command “store <note>” to store the message you want to remember later.

Then, just type “find” to see all of your notes, or use “find <keyword>” to retrieve a specific note or notes using a keyword search. It’s like having a memory in your Gtalk client.

Have you ever used any of these IM bots? Do you know of any others that work well in Gtalk? Share your thoughts and insights in the comments section below!

Image Credit: Shutterstock

AOL seems to recognize that sentiment and they’ve recently and unofficially dropped AIM 1.0.0.3 on us, dubbed “AIM Preview“. It looks like Skype, it chats like Skype, and it weighs like Skype. But it’s AOL Instant Messenger.

As you can see, I haven’t put much use to it as I’m not a very big fan. First thing you’re going to notice is that AIM has been completely redesigned. It looks nothing like it did in versions 5, 6, or 7. It’s nice and fat now, just like Skype. We’ve got a lot going on here.

1. Lifestream (which is your “status updates” of the AIM world) has been stripped away with and, well, replaced with real status updates (the Facebook kind). AIM updates still exist, they’re just a little more useless now.
2. As aforementioned, Facebook has now become integrated with your AIM experience.
3. Your buddy list has been transformed in a way that mingles Facebook buddies, contacts, and recent chats. It’s another overhaul that has AIM looking a lot more like Skype.
4. Along with Facebook, you can chat with Google Talk buddies through AIM. This already existed if you didn’t know about it.
5. Photos and videos are synced inline on the client. Chat histories are now stored remotely (rather than locally), which enables seamless synchronization between devices (at the expense of your security).
6. There’s a news feed, where AIM promoted their Huffington Post. Not much more to say here.
7. One-on-one video chatting and group messaging (more features pulled from Skype) are now with AIM. I guess this is what they decided to do with AV?

Nothing too unique or exciting is going on here. Maybe it was AOL jumping the gun on Microsoft acquiring Skype, maybe it’s AOL trying to salvage their last true-to-the-company web property that is still used daily by thousands of people.

In any event, it’s a breath of fresh air to a near-dead messenger and that’s about it. If you’ve instant messaged at all in the past couple years, this isn’t bringing anything new to the table. I can’t think of any real compliment here, though it seems as if this preview version isn’t as riddled with ads as others. You can get rid of ads in older versions of AIM quite easily, though.

It’s not worth your time, guys. Stick with Skype and let’s consider AIM an afterthought unless you, like me, need a barebones solution to IM-ing (in which case, I again recommend a much older version of AIM). Anyone else suddenly feeling nostalgic and missing those days when AOL was relevant? I can hear the modem dialing up now.

I’m not trying to beat up on poor old AIM. This is only a “preview” release, after all. Again, you can pick it up here: http://preview.aim.com/
Luckily, it doesn’t install over your old version of AIM and will write to a new directory, so there’s really no risk in at least giving it a shot.

It’s out on every platform: desktop, mobile, and web. You can get it on your iPhone or Android. I was really looking for AIM to be the first IM client that picks up the ball and adapts to the mobile world with a new release. I know you can send SMS messages from AIM, but adopting a more “permanent” solution like Textfree’s method would have been cooler.

Let me know if you guys find anything interesting with the new version that I may have skipped out on. I gave it a quick whirl after reading a few reviews and came to a pretty quick decision. Nothing new here!

As you might expect from an app started by one of Google’s first ten employees, imo.im integrates nicely with Android and has a simple, clean interface. It isn’t just another free app that displays ads or pushes you to upgrade, either – it’s ad-free and has no paid, premium version.

Accounts

Launch imo.im and you’ll see three different panes — Contacts, Chats and Accounts. The accounts pane lets you manage your accounts, set status messages and select a buddy icon.

The first thing you’ll want to do is add an account. imo.im supports popular networks like Google Talk, MSN, AIM and Yahoo; social networks like Facebook and Myspace; and even Skype.

You can add multiple accounts and link them together. When you link your accounts, imo.im saves their passwords in an encrypted form on imo.im’s servers. imo.im automatically logs into your other connected accounts whenever you sign into one. This lets you sign into all your accounts with a single password, even if you’re using the imo.im web app.

Contacts

Tap the Contacts icon and you’ll see online contacts from every account you have in imo. You can organize your contacts into groups or use the search box to find them. Just tap a contact’s name to start a conversation.

Long press a contact and you’ll see a screen with more information about that contact. From here, you can set an alias for the contact, which you’ll see instead of the contact’s screen name. For quick access to a contact, you can tap Favorite so they’ll always appear at the top of your contacts list or tap Shortcut to add a shortcut to your home screen. The shortcut will instantly launch a chat with your contact.

The contacts list also includes a few other features – you can tap the menu button to start a group chat or search your chat history (if you have the history feature enabled).

Chats

The chats pane lists your in-progress conversations and  displays a preview of the most recent message. You’ll see a blue chat bubble icon if a conversation has new messages.

The top of the chat screen shows your open chat conversations; you can swipe between them like you’d switch tabs on a desktop chat program.

One of imo.im’s standout features is support for multimedia attachments. Tap the microphone icon to send a voice message – your contact will get a link to an MP3 file (they’ll see a play button if they’re using imo.im.) You can also hit the menu button and tap Attach to add an image or video from your phone’s camera. imo.im can also attach image, video and audio files from your device’s storage.

imo.im provides notifications, so you’ll see new messages arrive even if you’re using another app.

Web App Integration

The imo.im Android app is completely integrated with the the web app available at (surprise) imo.im. You can sign in from any web browser and use the same accounts you’ve set up on imo.im; just sign in with one account and you’ll sign into them all, assuming they’re linked.

The web app and Android app work seamlessly together. Sit down at your computer, start a conversation and continue it on your Android phone – whenever you send a message in one app, you’ll see it instantly appear in the other. Your conversation history is also stored in the imo.im website, so you can access it anywhere, anytime. Don’t worry if you’d rather not store your conversation history online; this feature is optional.

imo.im even has a Chrome extension, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Preferences

imo.im’s preferences screen contains a good number of options. Its notifications are completely customizable — you can disable them entirely if you want. You can also have imo.im alert you with a vibration, LED flash and/or sound when new messages arrive.

Imo.im saves your account passwords by default, but you can disable this behavior in the privacy section. You can also have imo.im automatically start and sign in when your phone turns on, so you’ll always be available to your contacts. This is also where you can control imo’s online chat history feature.

The look and feel section contains a few options that can change the way conversations appear in imo.im. You can disable buddy icons or emoticons and adjust the size of the font imo.im uses in conversations.

Conclusion

imo.im is a standout multi-protocol chat application, both for Android and on the web. It’s probably the best multi-protocol chat app for Android, and it’s completely free. Check out our list of the best Android apps for more Android app goodness.

Tried imo.im? Or do you swear by another chat app? Tell us what you think in the comments.

Start Screen

The initial start screen is clean and simple. You can access your contacts, recent conversations, you can call phones, and view or edit your own profile. Via the top right corner you can sign out or change your online status (green). Via the options button (red) you can launch the menu, which includes access to your Skype settings (blue). Note that the option menu changes, depending on what part of Skype you are viewing.

The screenshot below highlights the different status options.

Personal Profile

Your personal profile provides an account overview, including Skype credit and status of your Skype number and call forwarding. When you switch to the profile tab, you can change your personal profile information.

Contacts

Per default, contacts will show your online friends. Clicking the respective button in the top left (red), you can switch to viewing all contacts, only Skype contacts, number, favorites, or blocked contacts. The options menu allows you to add contacts, save a number, search your address book, or sort your contacts by name.

Below is an overview of your contact display options.

When clicking on a friend, you will see a list of possible actions, including voice call, video call, send IM, send file, or SMS. You can also view their profile. Via the options menu you can rename the respective contact, add them to your favorites, block, or remove them.

When you open an IM conversation (click Send IM), you will see the most recent messages. You can make Skype load more messages from the history by dragging the conversation to the bottom. When clicking the chat icon in the bottom left (red), you can select whether to send your message through IM or SMS. Note that charges for text messages apply.

You can manage a conversation via the options menu, for example call the contact, add others to the conversation, send a file, or close the chat.

Sending Files

This is the most recently added feature for the Skype Android app. As of version 2.6, you can send files to your contacts. When you click the respective options buttons, a menu will launch from which you can select a source, typically including the gallery, as well as document and file managers installed on your system. Unfortunately, this does not include your Dropbox account, meaning you have to download any files you want to share via Skype.

Video Calling

As of version 2.5, Skype for Android features video calling, although not on all devices. Unfortunately, the Android Market no longer contains a full list of supported devices. If you run Android 2.2+ on a supported device, however, you can enable video calling and control further details in the settings menu.

I recently wrote a detailed article on how to enable and use the Skype video calling feature: How To Make Skype Video Calls On Your Android Honeycomb Tablet. Briefly, video calls must be enabled via the settings menu, video can then be turned on or off during a call, and on Skype 2.3+ you can switch back and forth between front and rear camera.

Calling Phones

Just like its desktop counterpart, you can use the Skype Android app to call phones or send text messages. Personally, I find this feature much more convenient using the mobile app. The book icon with the # sign in the top right corner is your phone book. You can manually add contacts with the options menu, which is shown at the bottom in the screenshot below.

Conclusion

This was Skype for Android in a nutshell. Basically, it offers all essential functions also available in the desktop application, with clean and simple menus as a bonus. Overall, it may actually be a little easier to use, since the touch navigation forced developers to make the app a lot more intuitive. And by the way, you can have Skype delivered directly to your mobile phone via SMS from the Skype website.

How do you like the mobile edition of Skype and does it look much different on an Android phone? What features from the desktop app do you miss or what other features would you like to see? Please share in the comments!

Textfree is available for both the iOS and Android platform. Both applications are completely free. I’ve got it installed on my iPod touch and it works just like any iPhone texting plan should.

Textfree usage and features are outlined on the application download pages, and there really isn’t much that is too unique or special about the app. It simply works. Download the app and you are able to choose from a few numbers. With that number, you can send and receive an unlimited number of texts. With a subscription, you can even use this number to send calls from. One huge feature that I really enjoy is that you’re able to send picture messages, something most other similar applications won’t allow you to do.

With a paid subscription, you can also hide ads. Textfree comes with a lot of configurable settings. You can add a signature, change your tones, and set email notification preferences. It’s very extensive and is definitely my recommended app of the niche.

The feature that has me completely sold on Textfree has not much to do with their iOS app at all though. Textfree has a web version of this application. With Textfree Web, you can sign up for a brand new Textfree texting number or login to your existing Textfree account and go from car to desk like nothing ever even changed!

Once logged in, sending texts from your desktop is just as easy as it was from your mobile app. It’s a whole different approach when compared to the 10 other sites to send texts from that we’ve reviewed because of the synchronization between desktop and mobile. You have your own dedicated number, also. It’s more like Google Voice than anything else.

The interface is a lot like Meebo and it truly behaves no differently than a web-based instant messaging client. This is the perfectly solution to simple and synchronized, desk-and-mobile texting and I can promise that it’ll eventually find way into your list of never-to-be-closed tabs in your browser. Not to mention, 100% free? Count me in, please.

Textfree (or at least the iOS version) does come with a few small bugs. When switching to the mobile version from the web version, sometimes you’ll see duplicates of the same message being sent. You also won’t see your own replies to messages from your desktop on your mobile client. It makes conversation histories close to useless. Every now and then, your app might freeze due to loading the huge amount of “new” messages if you’re switching back to mobile from the web. These are annoying, but a small price to pay for all of this functionality.

If you’re looking for a slimmed down, simpler version of some of Textfree’s features then check out GizmoSMS.

Try out Textfree. Let us know in the comments if you use any other messaging app.

Having a DVR certainly helps rectify the situation, but there is something to be said for watching the show live, as it happens. There is nothing worse than forgetting the show is on, then having a friend text you and utterly spoiling the end of the episode for you. I want to be mad at them, but it is my own fault for forgetting to watch the show in the first place. Thankfully, through the magic of IFTTT, my poor memory problems are solved. If you are unfamiliar with IFTTT, you should check out this delightful MakeUseOf article to learn the basics.

Setting Up A TV Show RSS

IFTTT does not have a native app in place for TV show reminders, but it does have the ability to alert you of the latest changes to an RSS feed. This is where mytvrss comes in to play. With mytvrss, you can set up an RSS feed for all your favorite TV shows simply by checking their name off a list.

After you finish choosing the shows, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “create feed.” This will bring to a screen where you can choose to enter your email address to be emailed when a new show is on, and where you will be given the URL for your new RSS feed.

By default, mytvrss can email you reminders about your favorite TV shows, and if that is good enough, than read no further. However, for me an email is not enough, as I do not always check it. I need the text message to get my attention. This is where IFTTT comes through, and where the next step in the process begins.

Setting IFTTT To Send Text Message Alerts

Make sure to copy the URL from step one, and then go to IFTTT to set up text alerts for the RSS. For the basics of IFTTT make sure to check out this article from Justin. It breaks down all the basics of using the app.

Register for an IFTTT account if you do not already have one, and click the “Create Task” button on the top right of the page. Next, click the “This” link. Click on the button called “Feed” with the big orange RSS symbol.

Next, paste the feed that you copied from mytvrss and click “Create Trigger.”

Next, click the “That” link. Scroll down and click on “SMS.” Enter your phone number in the box that pops up and IFTTT will send you a four-digit pin number. Enter the number provided to confirm that you wish to set up IFTTT texting.

Click on the “Create Action” button. The last step is simply to enter a description for the task. Click on “Create Task” and you will be all set to receive text message reminders for your favorite TV shows.

Conclusion

It seems as if every day there is a new and creative use for IFTTT. It seems poised to become one of the single most useful web apps ever created, and as they add more and more channels, it will only get better. Try it out for television shows, or whatever cool use you can think of, and I promise it will make your life a little easier.

Image Credit: ShutterStock

Is this just a novelty? Perhaps for some, but there are other reasons to use command line software. It’s easy to use via SSH, for one thing. It’s also light on resources. It works in your full-screen terminal, allowing you to chat without the distractions provided by the web. And an efficient series of keyboard shortcuts makes chatting quick for those who dislike the mouse.

More than that, though, CenterIM is just plain effecient. Get to know this program’s keyboard shortcuts and you just might come to love it, even if you don’t usually go for terminal applications.

Setting Up

You can launch CenterIM from the command prompt by typing centerim and hitting enter. Of course, like all instant messaging programs, it doesn’t do much out of the box. You need to configure it to work with your various services.

First you will be presented with some general options:

Browse up and down with your up and down arrow keys, and change a particular setting by hitting enter and making the appropiate changes. Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything here; the defaults all work well and you can change them later.

Press right to switch to the “Done” button, then click enter. You’ll be given the chance to enter your IM information:

It most cases all you need is a username and password. Configure as necessary.

You may notice there is no option here for Google Talk. Don’t worry, you can use Jabber to connect to Google Talk. CenterIM suggests you use these settings:

jab_nick yourGmailAddress@gmail.com

jab_pass yourPlaintextPassword

jab_server talk.google.com:5223

jab_prio 4

jab_ssl 1

jab_status o

You can add this information within CenterIM, or you can edit the “config” file in “~/.centerim” and add the above text manually. Both processes worked for me, but be warned – using CenterIM messed up the names of my contacts for some reason. I’m not sure why, but don’t add Google Talk to CenterIM if this is something you care about.

Using CenterIM

Using CenterIM is easy, if you know how to follow directions. I say this because at the bottom of every CenterIM window is a list of keyboard shortcuts:

Follow these instructions to switch between conversations, start new ones and configure the software. It might seem clumsy at first, but use this for a while and you might wonder why you ever chatted any other way.

Installing CenterIM

As always, Ubuntu users can simply click here to install CenterIM. All Linux users can also check their package manager for “centerim” becuase it’s almost certainly in there.

Conclusion

I love learning cool command line tricks for Linux, like reading Google Reader from the command line. CenterIM is quickly becoming another command-line favorite for me. Will it for you? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

But multi-protocol IM clients are not everyone’s cup of tea, and some people simply want the MSN experience, without the annoyance of what has now become Windows Live Messenger. Those people should definitely try aMSN.

Download & Installation

When looking for an IM program, I don’t expect to have to spend 20 minutes just installing it. This is the case these days when trying to get Windows Live Messenger.

Let’s start with the fact that I first have to opt out of installing numerous other programs that I don’t need, continue with the fact that it forces me to update programs that I don’t wish to, and finish with the appalling installation time of ~10 minutes, plus a required restart. All this for a simple IM client!

aMSN, on the other hand, is a very quick download and installation. 3 minutes after thinking about it, I already had the thing up and running on my computer. The only downside was that it tried to install one third party program as part of the installation. It was easy enough to opt out, though.

Compatibility

Aside from being open source (which is a big plus, if only in principle), aMSN is also multi-platform, and can run on Linux, Windows, Mac, FreeBSD and Nokia N900. If you really wanted it to run on more platforms you could just do it yourself, or find someone who could do it for you.

True, there is an official version of Live Messenger for Mac, but no such thing for Linux as far as I know, and even the Mac version is downloadable from a totally different page. It’s like it’s not even the same program. With aMSN, it’s all there on the same page, you just need to choose your OS and off you go.

Ease Of Use

It was ICQ’s downfall, and now it’s happening to MSN Messenger (and Skype too, to be honest). IM clients shouldn’t be heavy, slow and complicated. Every time I download a new version of Live Messenger, it’s even more bloated, slow and hard to understand. It seems that the simplest things become harder and harder to find.

aMSN is keeping it simple. It’s the same feel (and also look, if you so desire) as MSN Messenger, but everything is quick, responsive, lighter and easy to find. A simple look-around through the menus is all you need. No hidden buttons that you can’t see through a picture-heavy interface (“switch to compact view” anyone?), no hidden menus where you least expect them.

Another thing I found especially appealing in aMSN is the ability to easily choose what simple actions, such as clicking on the “X”, will do. The first time you click on it, you get to choose whether it should quit or minimize. You can choose to remember your choice or choose not to, in which case you can use the “X” button to do something different every time you click on it. This dialogue pops up for other actions as well.

Appearance

Yes, Live Messenger has themes and badges, and you might even like some of them, but I find most of them offensive. For different themes you have to go to third-party websites and download questionable things.

In aMSN, there are numerous skins that are fairly easy to install (it’s not just clicking as in the regular MSN, but then again, the program is much lighter for it – simply download the skins you want). All the skins are available right there on aMSN’s homepage.

There are some really beautiful skins, including one that gives the whole thing a pretty realistic Live Messenger look (if that’s your thing). If you’re into dark, simple themes, you’re sure to find your fancy as well.

I did encounter some bugginess in some themes where the menus stopped working properly, but I guess that’s part of the deal with open source sometimes.

Plugins

Aside from the many features that already come with aMSN, there’s a nice list of plugins available for download that can enhance your aMSN experience. You can find all sorts of plugins for Live Messenger as well, but they’re not something Microsoft created, and therefore you have to go searching for them. Nothing is official.

You can also create plugins for features you want to see (if you’re into that sort of thing), or get someone to do it for you. The magic of open source!

Multiple Logins

As it is, aMSN supports multiple logins from different accounts. You don’t need to install anything additional. Simply open a new instance of aMSN and sign in using a different user and password.

Try to do that with a clean Live Messenger version.

Bottom Line

Don’t get me wrong, I thing Microsoft have been doing some awesome things lately, but the bloated IM client syndrome has not passed them untouched. To me, Live Messenger has become almost unusable, and aMSN provides a very similar experience, in a much lighter and friendlier package.

What do you think of aMSN? Do you know of any other good clones out there? Share in the comments.