Instantbird – Mozilla-Based Instant Messenger

Instantbird is a open source multi-protocol Instant Messaging client. It is in early beta and might have some bugs and problems.

Instantbird is an IM application using the same libpurple protocol library that Adium and Pidgin use, but the UI is written in XUL.

Instantbird comes in Linux, Windows, and Mac versions. The first release of Instantbird provides you a very basic instant messaging functionality. It currently connects with AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, MSN, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, and Yahoo!

Download Instantbird from http://www.instantbird.com/download.html. No installation or un-installation required, just unzip the folder and run the executable to launch the application. On the first run, it will popup a add IM accounts wizard.

Select your preferable IM account, enter username and password. Instantbird will automatically connect you to your IM network.

The Buddy List appear on the left side of your screen and shows only online friends. Double click on your buddy name will pop up a small window that lets you IM anyone on any of your IM accounts. The message windows have 2 panels—chat, and history panel. No text formatting and smilies.

I look forward to seeing how Instantbird evolves in the future.