How many messaging services do you use?

I am now subscribed to 5 6 (edited on 24 Aug: just found another one I was not aware of) messaging services. Thank goodness to GAIM on my Ubuntu platform, I can access all of them at the same time. It is a nightmare to install 5 messenger programs on my Windows machine so I basically uninstall most of them. Since I can access Y!M and GTalk on their respective email webpages, I don't need to install them anymore. As my company blocks almost all messaging services, I only have Skype running on my company's laptop, apart from my company's own messenger.

So what are the messaging services I use? In summary:

1. Yahoo! Messenger (userid: nghianja) - most of my friends on it.
2. Google Talk (userid: nghianja) - easy to use.
3. Skype (userid: nghianja) - finally subscribed to it because it is the only one to get pass my company's proxy, shh...
4. ICQ (userid: 77392799) - my first messenger but rarely use it now.
5. MSN (userid: james.ng@t-est.com) - forced to register when I wanted to download a software; using it reluctantly.
6. AIM (userid: nghianja): only just found out that it is linked to my netscape webmail.
7. Jabber (userid: id10836) - my company's personal messaging service, so not counted above.

But now that Y!M and MSN are linked and one can message another, we don't really need that many messengers. Hopefully that is a way for me to combine all my messaging services into one.

Y!M and MSN to talk to each other next year!!

This must be the Web/Tech news of the month. (Well, the first piece of news that qualifies for the news of the month award anyway. More about the second piece of news later.) It has been announced that users of Yahoo! Messenger will be able to talk to the users of Windows Messenger come next year. Finally, there is no need to download and register an extra messenging client. However, I am getting a bit paranoid about this. The reason I haven't been using MSN is to avoid spam and virus/worms. So now will I get infected through Yahoo!? Maybe it's time to move to Google Talk...

Google has started talking!

It is finally here, despite Google having denied all rumors before. Google Talk is in town and with it, Google has entered the arena of messaging services. It is trying to give MSN, Yahoo Messenger and ICQ a run for their money. My initial try at using the Google Talk software shows that it is as good as the other messaging clients. It offers what the rest already does so no major surprises there. However, I want to point out that the interface is clean and refreshing for a change. There are no clutty advertisements or banners to make you dizzy. The predominantly white layout gives the same feel as an Apple iPod shuffle. If you already have a gmail account, you can log into Google Talk now. To download it, just go to http://www.google.com/talk/.