I don’t know about you, but I use IM services for my job quite a bit. Sometimes, it is the only way to reach people while I am sitting in phone conference after phone conference (email requires more concentration). At home, I am quite happy with the Adium chat client—but this is a Mac only program, and I needed to find a good solution for my work machine. I’ve tried pidgin, Trillian, MSN Messenger, and a host of others. I’ve never really been satisfied. So after I got my new work laptop, I went on the prowl for a nice windows chat program. For the last month I’ve been using a service called meebo, and it has been working out great. Some of the features that drew me to this program:

  • It allows me to log into all of my accounts, in one fatal swoop.

    • Meebo Login Interface

  • It’s web-based, so I don’t have to install any software that litters my machine with dozens of little bloatware programs (looking at you MSN).
  • You can download a Firefox Extension for meebo, which gives you the option to automatically login when the browser is started. The extension also adds an optional sidebar login and visual notifications to the browser window.

    • Meebo Notification in Browser Status Bar
    NOTE: The Firefox plugin for meebo doesn’t work for Linux users :(

  • The interface is clean and slick. Don’t underestimate this one! There is a banner ad that runs at the bottom of the screen, but it is unobtrusive (still cleaner overall than most other IM services).

No, it doesn’t have all those ‘neeto’ added features like webcams, voice chat, etc.CORRECTION: Some of these features are available in individual chat windows; It’s just not as intrusive as in the native clients. But I don’t want that… all I need to do is chat. Frankly, I was sick of Yahoo and its several hundred different buttons that I never use. Meebo doesn’t try to be everything , and I like that. If you have a chance, check it out. Let me know how you like it!