Although there using a mobile or land line is far cheaper than it ever has been, but it still cant compete with instant messaging, especially if you have friends and family abroad. Another benefit of communicating in this way is that it's possible to talk to people on a one-to-one basis as well as in groups. The only downside is that because there are so many different messaging clients available, it's highly unlikely that all your friends and family will be using the same one.

Miranda 0.7.14 is a free cross-network instant messenger client. This will enable you to talk to people, irrespective IM network. All status icons are included for other networks and your contacts are consolidated onto a single list. Unfortunately the application doesn't support all advanced features that ship with some IM tools.

Miranda 0.7.14 link.

28 Jan 2009