I Use Jabber

I have a lot of Instant Messenger IDs, but the one I am slowly pushing people toward is Jabber (a.k.a. XMPP). The problem, you see, is that the various Instant Messenger networks don't play well with each other. MSN talks to MSN only -- and to a few others who do a lot of work to reverse-engineer MSN's protocols with unreliable results. AIM and ICQ use the same protocol, but as far as I can tell don't interoperate. AIM just licenses ICQ's technology but an ICQ number can't talk to an AIM user. (I may be wrong on this specific one.) Others? They're locked out again unless they've reverse-engineered the protocol, again with unreliable results. The same extends to Gadu-Gadu, QQ, YIM and the whole sorry pack.

Jabber/XMPP solves this problem by being an open standard. Anybody can run a Jabber server and Jabber servers can talk to other Jabber servers if so desired. This means that a company can own its own IM server for internal communications (without paying the horrendous licence fees some of the commercial properties demand) while still connecting to the outside world and other Jabber servers. Indeed there are even bridges that allow you to connect Jabber to MSN, AIM, ICQ, etc.

But that's not why I want to use Jabber.

I want to use Jabber because it doesn't tie me in to Unka Bill or his monopolist cronies. It allows me to use whichever client software I feel comfortable with on any platform I'm comfortable with (where MSN only legally allows you to use Microsoft's client software on Windows, for example) and it allows me to use whichever Jabber provider -- free or paid -- I choose to use. (Currently I choose GoogleTalk.)

So if you want to Instant Message me? Use one of the ones on the sidebar of my blog. But pay attention to that "preferred" option. Because slowly, but surely, that list is going to shrink. But a Jabber/XMPP account will always be there.

Edited to add:

If you want to make the switch to Jabber, it's pretty easy:

1. You need an account. The easiest way to get a reliable one is to sign up for GoogleTalk. If you're more adventurous, try out the various other public servers available.
2. You need client software. GoogleTalk allows you to use a web page for chat, but this is not convenient for most purposes. (It's a boon for people who travel, though!) Instead I recommend Pandion as an easy-to-use setup. Even my mother could install and use Pandion with only a little remote hand-holding on my end! If you don't run Windows or if you want to try something other than Pandion, there are a lot of clients to choose from. (This is one of the benefits of using open standards.)