Almost everyone uses some instant messaging program nowadays to communicate with the friends or business partners. Linux supports all the major IM networks including Jabber, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, Gadu-Gadu, as well as the VoIP (voice over IP) programs like Skype, Gizmo or WengoPhone.

There are multiple instant messaging programs. You can either use some of the “all-in-one” apps which make it possible to have all your friends using different IM networks in a single app. You can use Jabber network which offers the same functionality by using “transports”. Finally, you can choose to have a native client of a single network, like an MSN client or ICQ client. We’ll describe the pros and cons of both three cases.

Multi-communicators, all in one

The creators of Gaim (a Gnome app) and Kopete (part of the KDE desktop) agreed that it’s a pain to open 5 different IM programs to be able to communicate with all the friends. That’s why they created the two programs which can talk to multiple networks and provide the user with a single interface for all the networks. So, you can now have your MSN, Jabber, AOL or ICQ friends listed on one contact list and talk to them as if they were all using the same network. Neat? Read more about it:

• More about the multiple IM network clients in Linux

Jabber - alternative chatting

Another approach for the “all-in-one” idea is offered by the Jabber network. Here it’s the server that is responsible for providing the functionality. Through “transports”, Jabber server is able to “talk” to different networks including Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and AOL. This way, we can have one single instant messenger holding contacts to all of our friends on the server side. This means, when we use another computer and a different Jabber client, our contacts will still be there! The Jabber networks itself is also growing, especially in the IT-people community. It’s already larger than the ICQ network, according to some investigations.

• More about Jabber in GNU/Linux

VoIP in Linux

Voice messengers have recently gained a lot of popularity. Of course, we can use them in GNU/Linux as well. There are multiple applications supporting all major VoIP protocols. The most popular is Skype, which provides a client program for GNU/Linux (downloadable from the project’s website), but there are many more choices out there, naming only a few like WengoPhone (SIP protocol compatible) or Ekiga (formerly known as GnomeMeeting, supporting H.323 and SIP protocols, Microsoft NetMeeting compliant).

TODO: describe ekiga, Skype, WengoPhone, Gizmo Project (Skype competitor), Psi-Jingle (for chatting with friends using Google Talk), etc

Overview of the IM clients

The table below describes which IM protocols are supported in the chosen programs.