Giving Up on Instant Messaging
I have been out on the Internet since, more or less, beginning of 1997 (Yes, I know, quite some time already), and back then and for a number of different years I started to use different Instant Messaging tools in order to get in touch with my colleagues, friends and family. That is why in the end I ended up getting multiple userid accounts: AOL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, etc. You name it, and I have an account for it, I am sure. But over the last few months now I have noticed a change in the different tools I use for some real-time collaboration.
Indeed, over the last few months I have noticed how I am switching away, little by little, from the traditional Instant Messaging tools into VoIP / IM Tools. I mean, I cannot remember any longer when it was the last time that I fired up ICQ or MSN. Instead, I am finding out that every single morning when I come to work I start loading tools like Skype, Damaka, and, lately, with some of my colleagues, Google Talk. And I seem to be quite content with that because by now I have convinced most of my contacts to make the switch. And it certainly has been worth while the effort.
I am not sure if you have noticed it or not but from the perspective of knowledge sharing, collaborating and engaging much more actively with a group of people VoIP tools seem to be much more powerful than traditional IM tools. Why?, you may be wondering. Well, I am not really too sure about it but I am finding out that I get to establish a conversation via voice with folks a lot easier than with IM. In some cases people do not seem, nor want, to be fast typists, so collaborating closely with someone feeling that way becomes a bit difficult and slow sometimes. However, engaging with them using voice tools certainly does help. A lot.
Plus the fact that for most of the VoIP tools out there we can find different options to record the conversations and revisit them back whenever we would need to, which will help a whole lot more whenever we would need to try to capture meeting minutes, action items, ideas, thoughts, etc. etc. And finally, more and more of those VoIP tools are also putting together video conferencing capabilities, which will make it even easier to relate to people and get to know them by allowing us to put a face behind the voice, a key item to help boost your trust levels with your peers and therefore get much more meaningful exchange of knowledge and information.
That is why I was quite content to see that Festoon now provides video conferencing support not only to Skype, but also with Google Talk, all under the same executable. I am just wondering when Damaka would be added to the list. I mean, with over 1 million downloads you would expect that such a fantastic VoIP tool would be beyond the mark of having reached a significant enough critical mass. So as these tools get better and better and make collaboration a whole lot easier I am finding out that I get to use traditional IM tools less and less. And best part of it is that most of my colleagues and friends feel the same way, so converting them hasn’t been too difficult. So how about you ? Have you moved away already from Instant Messaging tools or are you still too afraid to jump into the VoIP bandwagon? What do you think ? Will you ever make the switch?
Technorati Tags : Instant+Messaging, VoIP, Damaka, Skype, Google+Talk
[...] In Giving up on Instant Messaging, long time Instant Messaging user Luis Suarez notices that his IM usage has shifted from AOL, Yahoo, MSN to Skype, Google Talk, and Damaka. I’ve noticed the same. I rarely message people on MSN Messenger anymore, but choose Skype or Gizmo Project instead. [...]
Thanks a lot, Alec, for the pingback and for dropping by over at my weblog elsua. Indeed, I can certainly relate to what you have mentioned above. In fact, I, too, have been trying Gizmo Project for a couple of months now and although at the beginning my experiences with it were very good things have become a bit strange since it takes quite some time to log me in, whenever it can, because in most cases if I try to connect five times four of those it would fail with an error message. (Quick Update: while I was trying to comment on your weblog post I launched Gizmo Project again, it auto-updated itself and it allowed me to log in straight through again !)
I have been keeping up to date with the new releases but the problems seem to be persistent, so in the end I decided to move to other, more robust tools in my case, like the ones I mentioned over in my weblog. And so far I haven’t encountered a single problem. Maybe it is the time again to give another try to Gizmo Project. Hopefully, this time around it will work as it is supposed to. And as such it would be added to my current list of VoIP tools.
[...] For sure there are better and newer choices than the “old” IM tools, so you may start to try one of those. [...]
Thanks a lot, Cesar, for the pingback ! I must say that after having read your weblog post and, specially, Rocky’s, I am not surprised about what happened. These days it is very difficult to find an IM client that may not have been hacked in the past and given the fact that ICQ has been in market for so long I am just not surprised at all. I, too, have got a very low number, I probably got it about 7 years ago, but it has probably been months since last time I tried to log in and it would not be too strange if I could no longer access it. Either way, and pretty much like Rocky I guess I have been looking for something else than just IM and the combination of VoIP and IM tools seem to be the good match now. At least, so far and since I got started using those VoIP / IM tools I have yet to encounter the first security exposure. I know they might come at some point but so far so good. Let’s see for how long. Again, thanks for the pingback !
[...] Although some time ago I mentioned how I was finding out how more and more I was starting to give up on Instant Messaging and begun to move towards other more powerful real-time collaboration tools that would include both Instant Messaging and VoIP capabilities, amongst other features, there are times where I would still need to make use of IM vs. VoIP related tools like Skype, specially when I am in a hurry. Instances like while on the road travelling or while working in a different workplace than my usual workplace are clear examples why I would still need to have access to my online contacts and eventually I may still need to get in touch with my colleagues and friends through some more traditional methods, like good old Instant Messaging. [...]
[...] In the past I have been talking multiple times about Dogear, IBM’s own social bookmarking tool, but the other interesting thing from that quote is the fact that Mike just mentioned one of the main tools, along with Notesbuddy, that is part of the code base for the already available Sametime 7.5, the next Sametime version IBM is launching out there in the market. Yes, that is right IBM Community Tools. There are tons of materials already available about this next version of Sametime and as time goes by I will be sharing some of the most interesting but just to give you a teaser, Sametime 7.5 has been the only IM client that has been able to drag me back into the Instant Messaging world, even more so after I gave up on it a few months back! That is just how powerful it is. But more on that in upcoming weblog posts. Let’s move on. [...]
[...] I couldn’t help it. I just couldn’t. On a time where I was almost on the verge of giving up on Instant Messaging altogether here comes a really nifty productivity tip that I couldn’t ignore. On the contrary. Some time ago you would remember how I have weblogged about one particular offering in the Instant Messaging space called Meebo.In fact, you may have noticed how, so far, it is one of the most read weblog posts here in elsua. Well, as I have continued to like the service more and more by the day, specially when I am away from my own computer travelling or working in whatever other remote environment, Meebo has increasingly become one of the tools that I have been making use of in order to keep in touch with those folks. So, as I said, it looks like I may not be giving up on Instant Messaging that quickly after all. [...]