Instant Messaging
iChat, uChat, weChat
07 May 2004 Justin Williams Skip to comments
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No matter what service you use to chat with your friends, the Macintosh can use it. Justin Williams shows you how to connect to your favorite chat network using one of the many software choices available.
A few years ago, the Internet was nothing more than basic HTML, e-mail and FTP, and it didn't appeal to many beyond the technical circles. There just wasn't any product that grabbed the mainstream consumer's interest. However, when AOL released Instant Messaging for its AOL subscribers, it immediately caught on and made the Internet popular and easy for everyone to use. When AOL decided to open up Instant Messaging to the masses (i.e. to subscribers and non-subscribers) with its AIM service, it sealed the deal even more.
Sure, shocking the monkey and diagnosing your own diseases are great, but Instant Messaging easily connects all people — technical and non-technical alike. It allowed for communication amongst multiple people at the same time. The best part of all, however, was that you did not have to devote your full attention to the person.
When you are in a phone conversation, you have to dedicate yourself to the speaker on the other line. With Instant Messaging, you can push your messages to the back and not worry about them until you need a break (unless you have a pushy girlfriend who thinks you are ignoring her).
With e-mail, it can take minutes, hours, even days to get a response. With instant messaging, you can get an immediate response. You know that the person on the other end is there, and if they're away from the computer but leave this chat program running, they will see the messages when they return to their system.
Every Mac released in the past two years has come with an AIM client called iChat. For many, it is perfect for AIM. For some, however, they want more. They may be looking for more advanced features, access to other services or just a different feel for a client. I am going to outline a few Instant Messaging clients and their basic features.
This article is in no way a comprehensive tutorial or guide on how to use these products. It is simply an introduction to some of the best clients that are offered on the Mac.
iChat AV
Developer: Apple Computer
Price: Free with Panther, $29.95 for Jaguar
Services: AIM, ICQ, Rendezvous
Like I previously mentioned, iChat is included with all new OS X Macs. Jaguar systems come with iChat 1.0; however, with Panther (OS X v10.3) you can get a free software upgrade and get iChat AV 2.0+. The main difference between iChat and iChat AV is the lack of audio and video capabilities. You cannot have a video conference using your iSight camera with anyone else without iChat AV. Audio / Video conferences can occur between Mac and PC users as long as the PC user has AIM 5.5 for Windows. The Mac user needs any sort of Firewire Webcam or DV camcorder.
iChat also features tight integration with other Mac OS X applications. For example, AddressBook can store the screen names of your buddies so that their real names show up in the buddy list. This is a fine feature if your buddy only has one screen name. If, however, they have multiple screen names that are signed on at the same time, iChat is not that great at differentiating between the two.
iChat is also only one of two clients in our list that supports Rendezvous messaging. Rendezvous allows you to have a chat with anyone on your local area network without having access to the Internet. Rendezvous automatically looks for networked devices around itself and allows you to access and use those devices.
I use Rendezvous at the office to interact with many of my users. This is especially useful if there are certain users that you don't want to know your AIM screen name. I certainly wouldn't want some of them contacting me when I am not in the office. :)
One of the major drawbacks of iChat is that it doesn't support buddy profiles. Many of my friends cannot live without a profile and chastise me severely for never having one myself. If you live and die by having your own profile, then iChat isn't for you.
Website: http://www.apple.com/ichat/
AOL Instant Messenger 4.7
Developer: America Online
Price: Free
Services: AIM, ICQ
The official AIM client is my least favorite of all the clients being covered. The interface feels clunky, cluttered and non-responsive. The default sounds are annoying, and the giant advertising banner is intrusive and bothersome. Mind you, it isn't nearly as bad as the audio ads that are on Windows but still every bit as annoying.
AIM features friendly name support like iChat except that it doesn't integrate with AddressBook. It uses its own database to store the buddy names. A stock ticker, news ticker and message archives are also supported. AIM and iChat both allow you to set your buddy icon to anything you want. With the other clients, they either don't support changing it at all, or they just use the picture you have designated for yourself in AddressBook.
AIM on Mac OS X doesn't yet support any AV functionality, no Rendezvous, no Address Book integration and it suffers from a horrible user interface.
Website: http://www.aim.com/
MSN Messenger 4.0
Developer: Microsoft
Price: Free
Services: MSN
Many people use MSN Messenger as their instant messaging client of choice. Microsoft recently released and updated MSN Messenger 4.0 client for OS X to address a few issues and added a few new features at the same time. MSN Messenger on the Mac only supports the MSN protocol, and it only does so partially. Compared to the Windows client, Messenger for the Mac is missing several key features including whiteboard sharing and video conferencing.
Messenger includes more emoticons than any other application on this list. A lot of them I don't find particularly useful, but someone with more creativity might. I personally just stick with smiley faces. You can get the full list of emoticons here.
Messenger 4.0 is supposed to offer tight integration with the upcoming Office 2004 release. Due out this month, Office will tightly integrate Messenger in with Entourage so that you can easily respond to an e-mail to someone on your Messenger contact list. You can also archive conversations to projects you have created in the Project Center.
If you have a majority of your contacts using this service, this application is very good at basic conversations, but it lacks in the advanced features department.
Website: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/
Fire 1.0
Developer: Epicware
Price: Free
Services: AIM, ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo
Fire offers the unique feature of supporting Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC windows show up just like normal chat windows in the application. It doesn't support all the features of a dedicated client such as Colloquy or Snak. Fire uses single-message windows for each window like most common messaging clients. It also supports AIM buddy icons, file transfers and friendly names. Fire also has the ability to disable sounds on a per message window basis. If you have a buddy who is trigger happy when it comes to sending messages, you can turn off the sound for that specific window.
Clustering allows you to have groups specifically for certain buddies. For example, if my friend Mike had two AIM names and one MSN name, it would group them all together. If Mike has a foul mouth, the profanity filter can take care of that as well.
At this point in time, the application doesn't support Rendezvous messaging or AddressBook integration. From reading the Fire Forums, however, it is high up on the list of features to implement.
Website: http://fire.sourceforge.net
Adium X
Developer: The Adium Team
Price: Free
Services: AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Napster, Novell Groupwise, Trepia, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu
Adium X has been in development for almost two years and its work shows. The improvements over the original version are evident everywhere. Adium supports the same set of AIM functions as many other clients as well as a plug-in architecture that allows for expansion beyond your wildest dreams (which is how it supports all those other services like MSN and Yahoo).
The buddy list is the smallest and most unintrusive of the bunch. It takes up a very small footprint on your monitor. The message windows take up just as little space with the tabbed messaging support. Personally, I am not too fond of the buddy list window itself. It doesn't have the feel of an IM client, and the toolbar icons seem out of place on such a small window.
Adium has AddressBook integration so that you can associate buddies with their cards as well as file transfer support. Adium supports themes, sound sets, emoticon packs and even the kitchen sink. If features, services and protcol support are a must for you then Adium may be your chat application of choice.
Website: http://www.adiumx.com/
Proteus 4.0 Beta
Developer: Alien Technologies
Price: $15
Services: AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, Rendezvous
The best interface of any of the clients belongs to Proteus by far. Justin Wood has a great attention for detail. The buddy list window pastes a small indicator icon on a buddy icon so you can differentiate between the different services. If the buddy is idle, a clock is placed on the icon as well. Like iChat, away messages are viewable inline.
The message views of Proteus are skinnable. If you want thought bubbles like iChat, it's possible. If you want something reminiscent of Final Fantasy 7, it is yours as well.
One feature I love about this application is that if you highlight over a specific message, a timestamp is revaled right under it. The tabbed interface is similar to Omniweb 5's vertical tab bar. One wish we had, however, was that keyboard shortcuts to navigate between windows were more intuitive (command-arrows rather than command-[ or ]).
Proteus' message windows are actually WebKit views. In other words, each window is a tiny Safari browser, so text styling is a lot easier to work with since you can use normal HTML and CSS.
Website: http://www.indigofield.com/
Conclusion
Each of the clients mentioned above are in various states of development. I would recommend trying each one out that fits most or all of your needs before you make a decision. Personally, I stick with iChat AV and MSN Messenger 4.0 for my chat abilities. Once Proteus is out of beta, however, I may switch to it. I am in love with its interface.
If you have any comments or thoughts on this article, feel free to post them in the comments. If you think I didn't do a client justice, let me know! Keep in mind, however, that I am not trying to cover every single feature, just the basics.
Justin Williams is founder and chief author for MacZealots. He switched to the Mac almost five years ago hasn't looked back since. When not blogging or coding, you can find him watching copious amounts of TV. Justin can be reached at
Reader Comments (24)
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#1) On May 8, 2004 1:20 PM
The message windows of Adium are also skinnable using CSS. The buddy list is also themeable and you can upload and swap your buddy list themes with other people on the AdiumX forums.
#2) On May 11, 2004 10:19 AM
I don’t think that it is fair to the developers to say, “when Proteus is out of Beta.” If the revision number was .9, then sure, but Proteus is on 4.0. Yes, 4.0 is still in Beta, but the product is on it’s forth revision and the previous revisions were solid. 4.0 simple improves the product and adds more features.
#3) On May 11, 2004 8:24 PM
Nothing still beats the original messenger by each protocol service companies. I personally think Yahoo! Messenger is the best.
#4) On May 26, 2004 9:50 PM
You forgot about naim :)
#5) On May 26, 2004 10:49 PM
But it is a text-based client only?
#6) On June 12, 2004 11:19 AM
how do i get smileys with my aim expressions? i have aim expressions, but no smileys came with it!!i am very upset. please help me!
#7) On June 24, 2004 9:31 AM
If I use virtual pc 6 on my mac will i be able to use all the functions of the msn messenger, including audio/video?
#8) On June 24, 2004 10:05 AM
Sooz: Yes (presuming Virtual PC lets MSN Messenger see the camera), but you’re working way too hard to do that. If all you want to do is do video chats, use a different client like iChat or Yahoo! Messenger that does support video chats. Running Virtual PC just for MSN Messenger seems like way too much work to me.
#9) On July 20, 2004 3:15 PM
so the isight can only be used from ichatav to ichatav and nothing else?
#10) On July 20, 2004 8:13 PM
BG: Yes, currently Apple’s iSight web camera can only be used with a Mac, hardware wise. Apple’s iSight will not work if you try and use your iSight on a PC.
That is not to say, however, that you can’t use your iSight to talk with your friends on PC. All you will need is to have your friends use AOL’s Instant Messenger.
iChat AV 2.1 (included with Panther for free) supports videoconferencing with with Windows users, using the new AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 - giving you immediate access to the millions of people in both the Mac and PC communities.
iChat AV 2.1 requires Mac OS X v10.3 or later. So if you’re on Jaguar and want to use your iSight to Video Conference with your Windows friends, you’ll need to upgrade to at least 10.3 “Panther”
More information about iChat and iSight is available from Apple’s website at: http://www.apple.com/ichat/
#11) On September 12, 2004 10:15 PM
How do i delete awaymessages on iChat
#12) On November 6, 2004 1:46 PM
Marco - saved chat are found in ~/Documents/iChats. If you want, you can disable chat logging in iChat’s preferences, under the “Messages” category.
#13) On November 9, 2004 8:39 AM
Nice to see a review covering all of these together. However, IRC was around long before AIM, and, as Fire and other clients prove, it was essentially the same as IM. Even though IM is taking over as a way of communicating with individuals, one could argue that IRC has always been more successful, in terms of encouraging people to really get together and talk in groups, etc. It also laid a lot of the groundwork in terms of establishing file transfers, status information, etc., and it’s holding up well against IM in new clients, obviously. Credit where credit is due, eh?
#14) On November 11, 2004 6:00 PM
Great IM resource. Well done.
I’ve been maintaining an iChat FAQ page that might be of some use to your visitors:
http://www.homepage.mac.com/cherrypop
M
#15) On November 18, 2004 7:48 PM
I like iChatAV, but i wish it used more than just aim. i have accounts on all 4 of the major clients. i use proteus normally, but i’m leaning back to iChatAV. I don’t like that you cannot do voice or video communication.
#16) On May 15, 2005 8:39 PM
Hi, I am windowns user who just got a Mac. To my big surprise, I jsut found out a bit to late for my misfortune that the Mac version of MSN Messager does not support video conferencing — that is a BIG loss to me, as most of my firneds use MSN messenger (to be precise, all of them). Could anyone, please, tell me if there is a plugin out there I can download from the internet to add video conferencing to Mac MSN Messenger? Thank you.
#17) On May 16, 2005 3:28 AM
I’m not the greatest typist. But I would appreciate anyone’s help, PLEASE. I just bought a Mac top of the line assuming I would be able to use MSN Messenger with all its features, including most of all video conferencing. I need to use this program because in many parts of Europe it is the standard everyone, or almost everyone, uses. In countries like Spain MSN messenger has become the absolute standard. And I need it to keep communicating with my many friends there. Before I return my computer, I’d like to know if anyone here knows about a plugin or a way to add video conferencing capabiliies to the Mac version of MSN Messenger. Any information or suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
jbrasas@hotmail.com
#18) On May 20, 2005 9:28 PM
hi, does anyone know a way i can connect to the paltalk program using mac osx10.2.8? thanks.
#19) On July 27, 2005 2:35 PM
I think one of the users means “How do I delete my AWAY messages”, which are not stored in the iChat Messages folder as far as I can see, and I’ve been wondering this myself. I know it involves deleting a file in your Library cache (I think) but can’t remember where or how I even found it.
Any help?
#20) On August 5, 2005 3:13 PM
I can’t send files to anyone using a MAC from my PC with MSN!!!
Whats the deal is there no way around this? If you know of something please respond!
#21) On August 11, 2005 2:16 PM
HI, I’m supposed to be teaching an oline course ….unfortunately the rest of the word is on pc & as you know mac and msn are not too compatible for audio/video chat. I downloaded Skype and this should work I think. BUT I also need a program like raindance, something that I can do app & web sharing (tour the students around the web, show them something from my desktop, etc.).
Q: If I buy virtual pc (aghghgh) then will I be able to run all these programs like raindance and msn audio/video? I heard the answer above that vpc was too much just for msn, but this is work and there are multiple probs with my being on a mac. Don’t have a pc or this wouldn’t be a problem.
#22) On November 29, 2005 5:01 PM
I’m coming to realize that I’ve gotta have an account in every major msging service if I’m gonna talk to my pals! Then I can only use iChat with .mac or AIM. So then I gotta use Proteus or Trillion or other. Isn’t this tedious? Wouldn’t be simpler to one screen name with universal access and compatibility? Where’s the sense?
#23) On December 28, 2005 12:32 AM
I bought an iMac with built-in isight and virtual PC with Win XP Pro recently, hoping that I can run all the needed applications that cannot be run on the iMac. I installed MSN Messenger in Win XP Pro running on the VPC but the MSN Messenger cannot use iSight, even though I defined iSight as the USB device for the VPC. I tried another option but it still does not work. I bought a CREATIVE WebCam using USB 1.1 connection. I don’t seem to be able to get the driver installed/loaded by Win XP Pro properly. When I look closer to the minimum system requirement of the web cam, I found that it need Intel Pentium II processor or higher. I am not sure if this is the reason why the driver does not work because VPC is just a simulated environment for Win XP to run. The reason why I have to go through all these trouble is that I always do video chat with friends using MSN Messenger. At the same time, I switch to Mac to get a more stable OS and want to get more productive instead of dealing with the technical issue like software compatibility and virus problems. Would somebody have the similar situation please provide some suggestion on how I can use iMac to do video chat with my friends using MSN Messenger? Thanks.
#24) On February 2, 2006 5:21 PM
Can someone please answer themost basic of questions: Can a user with a PowerMac/OS X 10.4.4 running iChat exchange text, audio, and video with a user on a P4PC/WinXP running Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger?