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Multiprotocol instant messaging application
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A multiprotocol instant messaging application is client software comprised of an IM application which may connect to multiple IM networks. The networks supported include: AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber (including Google Talk, Gizmo, and other Jabber-based networks), MSN Messenger, QQ, Yahoo! Messenger, as well as specialized networks such as Novell GroupWise and Zephyr. Some provide an IM interface to IRC.
The major ad-supported IM networks have at times moved to block multi-protocol clients through rapid small changes to their protocols. At one stage, the Trillian developers made new releases every few days to restore access, as AOL attempted to discourage use of the third-party clients. As of June 2006, there have been no publicized attempts to block multi-protocol clients for over two years.
Jabber itself provides an alternative to directly managing each IM account through the multi-protocol client: IM gateways, or transports. Using transports, connections to the closed IM networks are handled by a gateway on the users Jabber server, while Jabber users talk to each other directly. This seems to function well for users running a private Jabber server, but large public Jabber servers sometimes become the subject of IP blocks from the large networks, or are not able to handle the high load. On the other hand, using a Jabber transport brings several advantages, both for the end user and the programmer of the client: less complexity on the client level, possibility to log in with multiple clients (e.g. mobile phone and computer) to the same account, lower chance for security and privacy risks for the end user thanks to the use of only one connection that can be secured to the Internet and thanks to the fact that people will not know your IP, possibility to archive messages on the Jabber server (as easy as normal Jabber messages) to comply with regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, amongst others.
Examples
Protocol support
Single protocol clients
Jabber Clients without any multi-protocol transports
Jabber Clients using server-sided multi-protocol transports
Multiprotocol clients
Information on the instant messaging protocols that each client supports.
|
Number of Supported Protocols |
AIM |
ICQ |
Windows Live Messenger /previously MSN Messenger |
Yahoo! Messenger |
IRC |
XMPP /Jabber, Google Talk, etc |
Bonjour
/formerly Rendezvous |
Novell GroupWise Messenger |
Lotus Sametime |
Gadu-Gadu |
QQ |
OTR |
Others |
| Adium |
18 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes 16 |
Yes |
No 24 |
Yes |
Yes 10 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
.Mac, LiveJournal, Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo! Japan, Zephyr; NateOn, Skype, Tlen, XFire (with plugins) |
| AIM |
02 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
With proxy |
No |
| Ayttm |
06 |
Partial6 |
Partial6 |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| BitlBee |
05 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes 20 |
No |
| Carrier (formerly Funpidgin) |
14 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes 16 |
Yes |
Yes |
Partial15 |
Yes 10 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
With plugin1 |
SILC, XFire, Zephyr, Blizzard Battle-Net Chat (with plugins) |
| Centericq |
06 |
Partial6 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
? |
| climm |
02 |
Partial12 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Partial13 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Digsby |
08 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
MySpace, Facebook |
| Ebuddy |
05 |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
MySpace IM |
| Fire |
07 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes 10 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| IBM Lotus Sametime |
03 |
Yes 18 |
No |
No |
Yes 18 |
No |
Yes18 |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
SIP |
| iChat |
04 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
.Mac |
| ICQ |
02 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| imeem |
04 |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
? |
| IMVU |
06 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
IMVU |
| Instantbird |
06 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Jabberwocky |
04 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Kopete |
010 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Partial15 |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Skype (deprecated), WinPopup |
| Licq |
03 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
? |
| MECA Messenger |
05 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| meebo |
05 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Livejournal (via jabber) |
| Meetro |
04 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Miranda IM |
16 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
With plugin21 |
Yes |
Skype, Tlen, LAN,5 Chat,5 XFire, MySpace IM |
| Naim |
03 |
Yes |
Partial |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Lily |
| OpenWengo |
06 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
SIP/SIMPLE |
| Paltalk |
03 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Pidgin (formerly Gaim) |
13 |
Yes |
Partial 24 |
Partial 16 |
Partial 23 |
Yes |
Partial15 |
Yes 10 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
With plugin1 |
MySpace; Blizzard Battle-Net Chat, NateOn, SILC, Tlen, XFire, Zephyr (with plugins), Skype (with plugin)19, Facebook (with plugin)22 |
| pork |
02 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
| Proteus |
08 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Partial9 |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
With proxy |
Yahoo! Japan |
| QIP |
02 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| QIP Infium |
06 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Mail.ru Agent, Phoning |
| Qnext |
06 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Qnext |
| SIM |
06 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
LiveJournal |
| talk |
02 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
ntalk, ytalk |
| Trillian |
05 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Trillian Pro |
08 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Partial14, 15 |
Yes 10 |
Yes |
Yes |
With plugin1 |
With plugin1 |
With plugin1 |
Skype, XFire (with plugin) |
| Trillian Astra |
09 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Partial14, 15 |
Yes 10 |
Yes |
Yes |
With plugin1 |
With plugin1 |
No |
Skype, ASTRA, MySpace, XFire (with plugin) |
| Windows Live Messenger |
02 |
No |
No |
Yes 16 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Windows Messenger |
03 |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
SIP, EIM |
| Yahoo! Messenger |
03 |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes 17 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Number of Supported Protocols |
AIM |
ICQ |
Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger) |
Yahoo! Messenger |
IRC |
XMPP /many compatible services, including Google Talk |
Bonjour
/formerly Rendezvous |
Novell GroupWise Messenger |
Lotus Sametime |
Gadu-Gadu |
QQ |
OTR |
Others |
Note 1: Plugin available [1]
Note 2: Plugin available
Note 3: Interoperability with proprietary protocols can be achieved using server-side gateways (so-called transports) in Jabber.
Note 4: Plugin available, but requires installed and running Skype.
Note 5: LAN and chat protocols supported for Miranda include NetSend, WinPopup, Novell Netware NCP, BattleNet, Vypress Chat, Quick Chat, and Walla Chat.
Note 6: Uses the AIM TOC2 protocol, which has fewer features than the Oscar protocol the official client uses. An Oscar plugin is available, but is still in early development.
Note 7: Plugin available [2]
Note 8: Can only enter one ICQ/AOL IM account, so users who have both an ICQ number and an AOL IM account name, can't use both.
Note 9: Text-based messaging only; does not support Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.
Note 10: Probably text-based messaging only, without support for Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.
Note 11: Plugin available, but requires Skype to be installed and running.
Note 12: AIM interoperability: can send/receive to AIM from an ICQ account.
Note 13: The support is optional. It currently isn't feature-complete, but basic operations should be fine.
Note 14: Claims to be supported, though frequently fails to receive or deliver messages, and tends to crash when receiving multiuser chat invites or file transfer requests.
Note 15: Feature incomplete. Lacks service discovery and transport support, making user search, multiuser chat, connections to other IM networks via XMPP difficult or impossible.
Note 16: Yahoo! Messenger interoperability (some bugs) : can send/receive to Yahoo! Messenger from a Windows Live Messenger on-line account. Yet, no audio or video support, no offline messages support and if somebody is leaving an offline message from an offline message-aware client - that won't be read by Pidgin.
Note 17: Windows Live Messenger interoperability: can always send/receive to Windows Live Messenger from a Yahoo! Messenger account.
Note 18: Using IBM Sametime Gateway you can establish a server to server communication to other IM communities. [3]
Note 19: With plug-in, requires Skype to be running, no video or voice support. [4]
Note 20: See post 2008-02-19 02:39 at http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/115#comment:25
Note 21: With using third-party plug-in "MirandaQQ" developed by Stark Wong from Hong Kong. [5]
Note 22: Facebook Chat plugin for Pidgin
Note 23: No audio or video, and generally poor support for anything beyond the very basic in the protocol. So there is chat and smileys, but no Photo Album Sharing, SMS and the rest. Also, although the oficial client does have the ability to embed the communication through HTTP there is no such option for Gaim.
Note 24: among others, the privacy settings are not working Note 24: Access is denied in the Yahoo network as it uses a deprecated protocol.
See also
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