Seth Rosenblatt, CNET Download.com wrote on TechMSN that Even though it’s been around almost as long as the modern Web, instant messaging is still a great way to send short communication bursts without tying your ear to a telephone. But with great utility come buckets of options: Do you use Yahoo IM? AOL IM? MSN? Google Talk? ICQ? What do you do if your parents are on one service, but everybody at your office uses a second and your friends are all on a third?

Nobody wants to be logged in to half a dozen different chat programs simultaneously, which is where multiprotocol apps come in, to free up resources and streamline your experience by presenting a single interface for managing your contacts, regardless of their preferred networks.continue reading…