While waiting for the idiotically crap source code repository called PVCS to dribble files into my computer this afternoon, I caught up with one of my friends on Skype - and we enabled the video connection.
Wow.
I haven’t used Skype for some time. I remember reading some time ago that they were improving the video quality, but it didn’t prepare me for the results.
Wow.
I’m not sure if it was down to perfect conditions, perfect client configuration, or what - but Skype video quality is spectacular.
It got me thinking about the instant messaging networks I remain connected to through either Adium, Pidgin, or Digsby - a combination of Yahoo, Microsoft, ICQ, AOL, iChat, and Google Talk - mainly so anybody who wants to can get hold of me.
Skype could well be the best instant messaging client available. The only thing against it is that it uses proprietary protocols - meaning you have to run the Skype client software. So far only Google have embraced standard IM protocols with Google Talk - but even that is being brought into question now with the release of Google Video Chat (which uses jabber to handshake, but then leapfrogs the network to go peer to peer for the chat connection).
I find myself considering centralising on one instant messenger - probably Skype - and disregarding everything else. It would simplify life for me enormously, and following my experiments with the “Getting Things Done” methodology recently, anything which makes life more simple is a good thing.
Which IM client do you use, and why ?