A friend was asking why he should move to Jabber so I figured it’s time to find the right answers.
I knew I would actually learn some stuff in the process 🙂 It’s important to know Jabber is not some software by itslef, but rather a protocol mostly used in instant messaging but also presence. So, there are various programs and applications that use Jabber. The excellent Wikipedia entry for Jabber also says Jeremie Miller started the project in 1998. Have you noticed many free and open source projects are started by single individuals that later lead entire communities ?;p
My friend’s question was about using a Jabber-based IM application instead of MSN Messenger, and there are various arguments for this. I prefer to link three sites I consider have the most complete and straight answers:
- Introducción a Jabber in spanish
- Pourquoi passer à Jabber en français S.V.P.
- Why would I use Jabber instead of another IM service ?
The last reference is by Dreamhost.com , the hosting company I use for my site and most of my customers. Did I mention they include a jabber server in any hosting package ? That was a major selling point for me – but that’s a whole new post 🙂
BTW, I use Psi because there are Windows, Linux and Mac OS X versions, and it supports encryption with OpenPGP. Take note that file transfers with MSN users is not supported by most Jabber software, although you can transfer files with other Jabber users.
Cool! Didn’t know JP had a blog. Now if only JF had one, we could reunite the whole Exo Team 😛
Nice links, even if I don’t read spanish the graphics are self-explanatory. But like the french page says I use Trillian so the change is less convincing.
I’ll propably look into it, if my use of IM increases.
Fabian,
Thanks for this. I’ve ditched MSN and I’m now using Psi and can even communicate with my old buddies on MSN.