Instant messaging at the forefront

Instant messaging or IM is one of the most popular and fastest growing Internet services. While e-mail is still tops in terms of use and usefulness, despite the ever-growing proliferation of spam, IM is a close second with more people keeping in touch using this technology.

Instant messaging has a definite advantage over e-mail since it allows instantaneous communications between two or more parties in real time. Advances in IM technology are able to offer more than two-way, text-based chat capabilities.

The newer IM clients such as ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger now offer file transfers where you can transport small files on a peer-to-peer level, voice chat which is similar to IP telephony, and even video chat through the use of webcams. The overall increase in bandwidth through DSL and cable Internet connections as well as more efficient operating systems have made it possible to carry voice and video through the Internet quite efficiently, although the current state of real-time videoconferencing is far from perfect.

Top technology companies are vying for the IM space like never before as Instant Messaging clients continue to evolve and add features and functionality. As a personal and business communication technology, IM is unparalleled in its speed, power and simplicity. Most IM clients are small in size and easily downloadable; they run on the most minimum requirements and have almost no problems on even slower dial-up connections.

Evolution of IM

Since the inception of Internet technology, the concept of real-time chat has always been the true proving ground for the speed and efficiency of a global network. Back in those days, IRC (Internet relay chat) became the text-based means of connecting real-time with the rest of the world. The problem with early IRC chat was that it was subject to bandwidth dropouts and it was more communal to the point of being confusing. With IRC, it was common to be in a chatroom channel with hundreds of other people.

ICQ. For IM clients, ICQ (I Seek You) – http://www.icq.com – needs to be credited for creating the blueprint of a successful peer-to peer messaging solution. Launched in 1996 by an Israeli company called Mirabilis, ICQ had 850,000 users within its first six months of existence.

ICQ currently has versions in 18 languages, over 160 million users in more than 245 countries and can be applied to numerous computer, PDA and even cellphone platforms. AOL (America Online) eventually purchased Mirabilis in 1998, ensuring ICQ’s continued success and guaranteeing its steady development and availability in numerous platforms.

MSN Messenger. Microsoft saw that the IM space was ripe for entry and development when it created its own MSN Messenger that is tied with its Hotmail and Microsoft Passport personalization and identification systems.

MSN Messenger offers a number of status options to inform other users. Options include Online, Offline, Busy, Be Right Back, Away, Out To Lunch, and On The Phone. Another option allows users to appear offline even though they are really online which suits a number of "lurker" types who wish to be anonymous but know who else is online.

While it may not offer a robust feature set compared to other clients, MSN is a strong messaging suite good for business and personal communications. Its videoconferencing implementation is one of the best because of the integrated Windows Media capabilities. Another small but important feature is Messenger’s broad selection of emoticons that are the tiny little illustrations that add emotion to text conversations.

Yahoo! Messenger. Yahoo! managed to leverage its position as the premier portal to offer one of the most popular IM clients. Yahoo! Messenger is now a favored tool since it has possibly the best video implementation on the PC platform. Yahoo!’s savvy has allowed it to integrate SMS (Short Messaging Service) into the Web, which means certain cellphones can chat directly with PCs via SMS.

Yahoo! Messenger offers users some interesting features such as the ability to create their own chatroom with a defined number of users, as well as easy access to news and stock information. The features are robust although the interface is rather plain compared to ICQ and MSN’s IM clients which are livelier. Of course, like with most applications, users can "skin" and customize the look of Yahoo! Messenger to suit their preferences.

Other alternatives

There are nearly hundreds of other IM clients that may not be as popular but which do have cult status. On the Macintosh platform, for example, the recently updated iChat AV uses the power of OS X to enable AOL (America Online) and .Mac users to chat. Typical of Apple, they also married their software with hardware and now sell iSight that is a Mac-specific, high-quality video camera.

Locally, the Chikka application (http://www.chikka.com) is more a PC-based SMS application that interfaces with cellphones and allows up to 200 buddies per account. Chikka allows instantaneous sending of SMS to any Philippine mobile phone, which means even traveling cellphone users who are roaming in GSM-enabled countries can be reached via Chikka’s Web client. The good thing about Chikka is that it was created with the Filipino market in mind and also caters to OFWs who are always in need of new ways to contact home.

All-in-one IM clients

One of the biggest drawbacks in the IM client space is the lack of interoperability. Each of the major IM clients has its own protocol. Fortunately, there are developers who have created multi-functional IM clients that can access all the others from a single interface.

The foremost PC all-in-one IM client is Trillian, which interfaces seamlessly with ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! and even IRC. So far, Trillian has enjoyed eight million downloads and also includes news feeds and a videoconferencing facility. It also boasts of file-sending features to all the included IM clients.

In the Mac space, OS X users can use Fire.app which does what Trillian does but on a limited scale (no video implementation yet and no news feeds). For many users who handle accounts in multiple IM clients, all-in-one clients are a useful option since all their conversations can be managed within one interface and window.

Linux users have a winning solution in Gaim, which is effectively a multi-protocol client able to concurrently handle IRC, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Jabber and others. Gaim is constantly under development and is expected to offer file transfer features in the near future.

The continued success of IM is certain to thrive as more and more people have learned to depend on the technology as a communication tool. For businesses, IM implemented properly can save a lot of money in communication costs. With the growing popularity of videoconferencing via IM and increasing bandwidth, we should see online chats, online voice chats and online video teleconferences overtake overseas calls as the preferred media of remote communications.