Comparison of instant messengers

Users of the Teleo software can speak to one another from their computer for free. Teleo users can dial regular telephones. Calls cost US$0.02 per minute to many countries, including to mobile or cell phones. There is almost no telephone that cannot be dialled from Teleo. Teleo users can also receive calls dialed by regular phone subscribers to regular phone numbers. Beta released February 2005. ...

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Teleo, Teleo - Features, Teleo - Technology

Read more here: » Teleo: Encyclopedia II - Teleo - Features

MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 1. The first product release, released July 22, 1999. Claimed operability with AOL's AIM network. It included only basic features, such as plain text messaging and a simplistic contact list. MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 2. Released November 16, 1999. Included a rotating advertising banner and the ability to slightly customize the appearance of the chat window. MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 3. Released May 29, 2000. Included file transfers, PC to PC and PC to phone audio capabilitie ...

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MSN Messenger, MSN Messenger - Version Overview, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 3, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 4.6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.0, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger QFE Patch, MSN Messenger - MSN Web Messenger, MSN Messenger - Windows Live Messenger 8, MSN Messenger - Protocol, MSN Messenger - Games, MSN Messenger - Applications, MSN Messenger - Activity SDK, MSN Messenger - Competition, MSN Messenger - Criticism

Read more here: » MSN Messenger: Encyclopedia II - MSN Messenger - Version Overview

Skype - Distribution partners. Skype has partnered with online web properties including Tom.com, PcHomeOnline, Daum, Livedoor and Onet and hardware manufacturers including Plantronics, Logitech, Motorola, VTech, RTX, Siemens and Linksys. Skype - Third Party Software products. Festoon is a Skype add-on product for Windows computers (2000 or XP with Internet Explorer 5+) that "adds video and sharing to Skype. Built on top of the Skype messaging platform, Festoon enables Skype use ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Skype business ecology

Trillian is a closed-source application, but the Pro version can be extended by plugins. Plugins by Cerulean Studios itself include spell-check, weather updater, a mini-browser (for viewing AIM profiles), e-mail checker, Winamp song title scroller, stock exchange monitor, and RSS feedreader, as well as a plugin for the Jabber and Bonjour networks. Others have developed various plugins, such as a games plugin which can be used to play chess and checkers, a protocol plugin to send NetBIOS messages through Trillian, a plugin to interact ...

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Trillian instant messenger, Trillian instant messenger - Skins, Trillian instant messenger - Plugins, Trillian instant messenger - Other features, Trillian instant messenger - Representation, Trillian instant messenger - Activity History, Trillian instant messenger - Time travel, Trillian instant messenger - Instant lookup, Trillian instant messenger - Emotiblips, Trillian instant messenger - Hidden Smileys, Trillian instant messenger - Version history

Read more here: » Trillian instant messenger: Encyclopedia II - Trillian instant messenger - Plugins

The protocol is closed and Microsoft has made two attempts of locking out third-party clients by requiring data transformed by the use of hash functions when connecting. However, both algorithms have been reverse engineered. The winks have a digital signature, which the official client always checks. It will not play winks that are not signed by Microsoft. Ever since MSN Messenger has been released, it has been targeted entirely towards Windows users, leaving Mac users with a limited featureless client, only allowing them to chat with ...

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MSN Messenger, MSN Messenger - Version Overview, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 3, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 4.6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.0, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger QFE Patch, MSN Messenger - MSN Web Messenger, MSN Messenger - Windows Live Messenger 8, MSN Messenger - Protocol, MSN Messenger - Games, MSN Messenger - Solitaire Showdown, MSN Messenger - American checkers, MSN Messenger - Bejeweled, MSN Messenger - Minesweeper Flags, MSN Messenger - Other Games, MSN Messenger - Applications, MSN Messenger - Activity SDK, MSN Messenger - Competition, MSN Messenger - Criticism

Read more here: » MSN Messenger: Encyclopedia II - MSN Messenger - Criticism

MSN Messenger is not the only instant messaging program available. Its most significant rivals are AIM (from AOL), ICQ, Google Talk, QQ, Skype and a myriad of other Jabber based clients. As of October 13th, 2005, MSN Messenger and former rival Yahoo Instant Messenger will join forces to create the second largest instant messenger userbase worldwide. For Windows and Linux users, an open source instant messaging client known as Gaim also exists. It does not yet have the level of functionality that MSN Messenger does, rather it focuses o ...

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MSN Messenger, MSN Messenger - Version Overview, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 3, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 4.6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.0, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger QFE Patch, MSN Messenger - MSN Web Messenger, MSN Messenger - Windows Live Messenger 8, MSN Messenger - Protocol, MSN Messenger - Games, MSN Messenger - Solitaire Showdown, MSN Messenger - American checkers, MSN Messenger - Bejeweled, MSN Messenger - Minesweeper Flags, MSN Messenger - Other Games, MSN Messenger - Applications, MSN Messenger - Activity SDK, MSN Messenger - Competition, MSN Messenger - Criticism

Read more here: » MSN Messenger: Encyclopedia II - MSN Messenger - Competition

MSN Messenger - Solitaire Showdown. MSN Messenger versions 6 onwards contains this game (in the Games menu), based on the original Solitaire in Windows. It is online, 2 player, and features 2 decks (a triple deck, and a special 13-card pile). Each player must race to remove cards of the special 13-card pile, and put their cards on the shared piles/suit stacks (e.g. putting an ace of any suit on the pile, but putting 2's of a suit may only be possible after the ace of the suit is currently on the pile, not covered ...

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MSN Messenger, MSN Messenger - Version Overview, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 3, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 4.6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.1, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 6.2, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.0, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger 7.5, MSN Messenger - MSN Messenger QFE Patch, MSN Messenger - MSN Web Messenger, MSN Messenger - Windows Live Messenger 8, MSN Messenger - Protocol, MSN Messenger - Games, MSN Messenger - Solitaire Showdown, MSN Messenger - American checkers, MSN Messenger - Bejeweled, MSN Messenger - Minesweeper Flags, MSN Messenger - Other Games, MSN Messenger - Applications, MSN Messenger - Activity SDK, MSN Messenger - Competition, MSN Messenger - Criticism

Read more here: » MSN Messenger: Encyclopedia II - MSN Messenger - Games

July 1, 2000 Initial Release, 0.50 of Trillian as an IRC client. August 11, 2000 Version 0.52 released with more IRC-specific features. November 29, 2000 Version 0.60 released with AIM, ICQ and MSN support. Many other features were also added. December 23, 2000 Version 0.61 released. Includes Yahoo! Messenger support. January 28, 2001 Version 0.62 released. March 23, 2001 Version 0.63 released. June 04, 2001 Version 0.635 released.

Trillian instant messenger, Trillian instant messenger - Skins, Trillian instant messenger - Plugins, Trillian instant messenger - Other features, Trillian instant messenger - Representation, Trillian instant messenger - Activity History, Trillian instant messenger - Time travel, Trillian instant messenger - Instant lookup, Trillian instant messenger - Emotiblips, Trillian instant messenger - Hidden Smileys, Trillian instant messenger - Version history

Read more here: » Trillian instant messenger: Encyclopedia II - Trillian instant messenger - Version history

Each Teleo user must have the Teleo software running on their computer. This software requires a subscripion to use, and can be downloaded from the company website. The Teleo code and protocol remain closed and proprietary. The main difference between Teleo and other VoIP clients is that it operates on a peer-to-peer model rather than on the more traditional server-client model. The Teleo connections are entirely decentralized and distributed among the nodes in the network, which means the network can scale very easily to large sizes (currently in the tens of millions of users) without a complex an ...

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Teleo, Teleo - Features, Teleo - Technology

Read more here: » Teleo: Encyclopedia II - Teleo - Technology

The next major release of 0.4.x will include a new avatar module and also dynamic skinning of icons. Later releases will include login manager where password protection can be used on a profile. Also, a new sqlite database is being written to improve the performance. It's also hoped that the current AIM protocol plugin, which utilises the TOC protocol, will be replaced with an OSCAR version. The move from the TOC protocol to OSCAR will mean features such as reading away messages, file transfers and avatar support will become available. Version 0.5.x will consist o ...

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Miranda IM, Miranda IM - Connectivity, Miranda IM - Development history, Miranda IM - Early days, Miranda IM - Version 0.1.x, Miranda IM - Version 0.2.x, Miranda IM - Version 0.3.x, Miranda IM - Version 0.4.x, Miranda IM - Future plans

Read more here: » Miranda IM: Encyclopedia II - Miranda IM - Future plans

As of July 2005, the line quality varies from excellent (comparable to or even better than traditional telephony) to barely usable. The main drawbacks are: time lag, often around 0.5 seconds, but occasionally up to two or three seconds, apparently caused by distant remote routing or the low bandwidth of either or both parties; dropout and fizz; These problems can be minimised by a properly set firewall, so the user doesn't have to rely on relays to route a call. This is however sometimes impossible, especi ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Criticisms

SR Consulting surveyed 4 million Skype user profiles in October 2005. They produced some demographic information reported by Mathaba.net and Skype Journal. Some findings: Average age: 29.7 years old. About 46% of Skypers are in Europe, but Brazil and China have the most Skype users of any country, each with 8.1% of the Skype population. Gender information is inconclusive so far. More than half of all users decl ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Usage

Legal and other barriers have been erected by companies, government regulators, and school systems. Reasons given include perceived threats to an economic interest, to national or enterprise security, to system reliability. Skype - China 2005. SkypeOut was recently blocked in some regions of mainland China (notably Shenzhen) by the operator China Telecom for undisclosed reasons, believed to relate to SkypeOut's ability to take lucrative international and long distance business away from the People's Republic of China's state controlled telecoms companies ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Prohibitions and warnings

Phone companies have traditionally charged users a large amount, often proportional to the distance, for long distance calls. Skype, arguably the first major VoIP software, allowed people to talk over the Internet for free. This led to many home users with broadband capability to switch to Skype for placing their calls over the Internet. Skype being secure and encrypted end-to-end, has also attracted large corporations who are beginning to switch from their traditional phone companies for their internal calls. Phone companies were all of a sudden out of favor in the markets which patr ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies

Each Skype user must have the Skype software running on his/her computer. This software is currently available free of charge and can be downloaded from the company website, but the software is proprietary. The main difference between Skype and other VoIP clients is that it operates on a peer-to-peer model rather than the more traditional server-client model. The Skype user directory is entirely decentralised and distributed among the nodes in the network, which means the network can scale very easily to large sizes (currently just over forty million users) without a complex an ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Technology

Skype - General. Since the Skype code is proprietary and closed source the security of the software cannot be readily established. When run on Microsoft Windows, Skype binds to three ports on the user's computer and directly manipulates Windows XP's built-in firewall to accommodate these network bindings. Skype's file transfer function does not contain any programmatic interfaces to antivirus products, but Skype claims to have tested its product against antivirus "Shield" products. If the EICAR test file i ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Security

Skype Version 1.2 for Windows was released in March 23, 2005. Its most significant new feature is the provision of centrally-stored contact lists so that a user's contact information is available from any computer that is connected to Skype (in other previous versions, contact information was stored on the local computer). On 2006-01-05, version 2.0.0.69 of Skype was released. Versions now exist for Microsoft Windows (Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows CE (Pocket PC)), Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. The Linux version runs on FreeBSD throu ...

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Skype, Skype - Features, Skype - SkypeOut, Skype - SkypeIn, Skype - Skype Voicemail, Skype - Skype Chat, Skype - Skype Video Calling, Skype - Releases, Skype - Technology, Skype - GIPS iLBC CODEC, Skype - Security, Skype - General, Skype - Confidentiality of Data, Skype - Integrity/Authenticity of Data, Skype - Authenticity of user identity, Skype - Prank program, Skype - History, Skype - Skype business ecology, Skype - Distribution partners, Skype - Third Party Software products, Skype - Usage, Skype - Criticisms, Skype - Prohibitions and warnings, Skype - China 2005, Skype - France 2005, Skype - Skype vs traditional phone companies, Skype - Compatible products

Read more here: » Skype: Encyclopedia II - Skype - Releases

Google reports that they are working on adding new features, and many clues found within Google Talk's Privacy Policy suggest Google Talk will support file transfers.[10] Google has a good track record of following up on user suggestions in their Gmail product. Unlike with Gmail, Google is not disclosing what features they are working on in general, although a FAQ states that they are w ...

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Google Talk, Google Talk - History, Google Talk - Technical, Google Talk - Criticism reviews and bugs, Google Talk - Future releases

Read more here: » Google Talk: Encyclopedia II - Google Talk - Future releases

Open— the Jabber protocols are free, open, public, and easily understandable; in addition, multiple implementations exist for clients, servers, components, and code libraries. Standard— the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has formalized the core XML streaming protocols as an approved instant messaging and presence technology under the name of XMPP, and the XMPP specifications have bee ...

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Jabber, Jabber - History, Jabber - Advantages, Jabber - How it works, Jabber - Connecting to other protocols, Jabber - Jabber and HTTP, Jabber - Regional Jabber communities

Read more here: » Jabber: Encyclopedia II - Jabber - Advantages

The Jabber network is server-based (clients do not talk directly to one another), but decentralized; there is no one central authoritative server, as there is with services such as AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger. Some confusion often arises on this point, as there is, in fact, a public Jabber server being run at "Jabber.org", which a large number of users subscribe to; however, anyone may run their own Jabber server on their own domain. A user is identified with a user name and a server name. The two fields are separated by the @ sign. This identifier is c ...

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Jabber, Jabber - History, Jabber - Advantages, Jabber - How it works, Jabber - Connecting to other protocols, Jabber - Jabber and HTTP, Jabber - Regional Jabber communities

Read more here: » Jabber: Encyclopedia II - Jabber - How it works

Another interesting aspect of the Jabber protocol and server is the HTTP binding for users behind restricted firewalls. Jabber can use HTTP in two ways: polling and AJAX. HTTP polling essentially implies messages stored on a server-side database being fetched (and posted) regularly by a Jabber client by way of HTTP 'GET' and 'POST' requests. With the Ajax binding the client uses longer-lived HTTP connections to receive messages as soon as they are sen ...

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Jabber, Jabber - History, Jabber - Advantages, Jabber - How it works, Jabber - Connecting to other protocols, Jabber - Jabber and HTTP, Jabber - Regional Jabber communities

Read more here: » Jabber: Encyclopedia II - Jabber - Jabber and HTTP