Instant Messenger Wars
How is it that there are so many instant messenger protocols, and that they’ve ALL got substantial support?
I’m reminded of VHS/Beta (and the impending Blu-Ray/HDVD) battles every time someone says "what’s your IM?"
"Hey, send me an e-mail and we’ll set it up."
"Why don’t you just IM me?"
"Ok..gimme your screen name."
"x391jf93ltricks22"
"That’s AOL, right?"
"No, Yahoo!"
"I don’t have Yahoo!…do you have an MSN account?"
"No. You’ve got Skype though, right?"
"I used to…just send me an e-mail, and I’ll call you."
Now, thanks to things like Trillian and Adium, people are able to combine their different IM accounts in one interface…but you’re still using three or four different protocols. Is there really a difference?
I’ve heard that it’s almost a geographic thing: U.S.A. uses AIM, Canada uses MSN, Australia uses Yahoo!…
…but how the hell did that happen?
My official proposition: since I use AIM primarily, I would ask all internet users to either convince me of the benefits of Yahoo! or MSN, or begin using AIM exclusively.
Thank you. I’ll be waiting.
Tags: IM, Instant Messenger, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, AIM
June 29th, 2006 at 4:08 am
I use Google Talk or Skype, because I’m new-school like that, and not everyone in the world knows my Gtalk or Skype contact details, which is a lot more than can be said fro MSN or Yahoo.
July 9th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
hahahahaha no.
What i can’t understand is the use of AIM over MSN messenger. I mean, MSN is better looking, easier to use, and more popular around the world. You also can change your nickmame and personal image and use the webcam and audio conversations easily. Skype sucks, I hate it for online chat… I use it occasionally for audio conversations to reduce international phone call fares but just for that. And noone around me has yahoo massenger but i globally hate the yahoo search+mail+im because the interface is not very friendly… I don’t think I convinced you and I don’t think this is ever going to change either but hey I guess I gotta try google talk, maybe it’s revolutionary and the beginning of a new standard!
August 18th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Well, Spain (where I live now) uses MSN, Austria and Germany uses ICQ, Finland…I think MSN also…that’s all I can say. The first IM I used was ICQ (I have a 6-numeber ID…a really old one), then was MSN…now I use MSN and Skype. I don’t know anyone that uses other IM’s so I have those for now.
I used Trillian before, but it didn’t had any video calling support, so I changed back to MSN…
October 6th, 2006 at 9:51 am
I agree with you. I primarily use Yahoo Messenger, and have truly fallen in love with it as a tool. I use it primarily for work, and to communicate with family/close friends. And my question to them is, ‘why are you using something other than Yahoo’? However, just last night I experienced major glitches with my yahoo messenger (which may have something to do with my computer and not their program), and couldn’t respond to work inquiries that come from a team we have abroad. Within minutes, I was able to download Trillion, which came to the rescue! I finally had an appreciation hours ago for the other programs available that allow you to use other messenger programs…