Instant messaging hell

So here we are in 2006 with all those instant messaging networks that don't cooperate. Well there is Microsoft that made a deal with Yahoo but who uses Yahoo Messenger outside the states anyway? My first IM experience was with ICQ. I had a very intimate relation with ICQ and it was obvious that ICQ was way better then Windows Messenger those days. Since the beginnen of ICQ you had invisibility, blocking, file-transfers, offline messages and the ability to give certain contacts still the option to see that your invisible. The last is a feature I mis with all other networks.

But around MSN version 6 Microsoft created a competitive messenger with good audio and video support and filetransfers that also worked behind nat routers. Due to Microsofts aggressive marketing through Internet Explorer default page (the MSN portal) it became THE messenger for the masses in most parts of the world. I like MSN for it's feature set but the UI isn't professional at all. It is cluttered and just too BIG!

Then Skype came around. It had excellent nat support for voice conversations. The UI was fresh and small and it had no advertisement banner that ICQ and MSN still have. They just released a new version with video support and I must say that it works very well! It is the only vendor that has a multi-platform Messenger and what is also a very nice feature of Skype is that eveything is encrypted by default.. well.. there isn't a way to disable encryption. This is interesting for businesses that would like to add services through an IM network to exchange personal or financial data. No commercial IM has encryption AFAIK.

Then there is this weird other IM GoogleTalk. I really don't understand why Google released it. Google used the XMPP standard so thumbs up for that! Although they used XMPP their IM network was private but they opened it up after a small period. I like the small UI of GoogleTalk. A straight to the point IM to do what is has to do! But I miss the video/webcam feature to cam with friends and the audio quality isn't on par with Skype.

So which IM do I use everyday? MSN currently wins. Just because all of my friends and relatives use it. I also have Skype running most of the time because I have family accross the borders and it is nice to have good audio conversations then. I also run Miranda quite alot to be online on the Yabber,  ICQ and Yahoo network but doesn't get launched when I logon. Yeah I know that Miranda also supports the MSN network but then you don't have the webcam and custom emoticons feature.

What would be the ultimate messenger? Well I think that ain't possible. It would be nice if all IM networks would embrace the XMPP messaging standard. This way you can atleast do the basic IM stuff with eveybody. XMPP IM messages are easily extensible with nice features like custom emoticons, winks and such  because it uses xml. XMPP can also be used for feature negotiation and handshaking to startup services like video/audio calls. The first MSN messenger versions used Netmeeting to do video-audio conferencing. A very good example to let each tool do in what it does best. ICQ had this feature to negotiate features between clients and you could easily start those. I used it  to launch a game of quake world deathmatch. This isn't possible anymore in ICQ and not in MSN too. Maybe a nice feature request for MSNplus!.......

How do you think about IM these days? What is your IM client? Did you customize it? Do you use IM alot?