Please explain yahoo, jabber, MSN, ICQ Instant Messaging..

From iChat Help:

To chat with someone, find out the screen name the person uses with iChat. This will be either an AIM screen name, a .Mac account, or a Jabber ID. iChat does not work with Yahoo, MSN, or other chat systems.

Does iChat connect to any of these other services?

Of the "services" you listed, iChat can connect to .Mac, AIM, Jabber, and ICQ. iChat can connect to Jabber names only if you are logged into Jabber. If you are interested, here is a bit more "enlightenment."

All chat connections are established through chat servers. iChat can connect to the AIM and Jabber servers and, thus, to users whose client software applications also connect to those servers. These are the same AIM and Jabber Servers that your iChat menu (next to the Blue Apple) allows you to "Log in to" when iChat is running.

All .Mac names are AIM names that end in at Mac dot com, so iChat can connect with .Mac names.

You will need to use different software software to connect to MSN.

For all I know about connecting with servers other than AIM and Jabber, see Common PC Chat Applications and iChat.

What does it mean to have them available in the address book?

A search for "available" (without the quotation marks) in Address Book > Help on your Mac tells you if you can see the green pill (circle), the contact is available for chat. This is a nice feature because it works even when iChat is not running.

By the way, you can also see contact availability in Mac Mail. See your Mac's Mail > Help Replying with an instant message for details.

Cheers,
Jim

Mac OS X (10.4.8)  G5 DP 1.8

You're most welcome, sorcerie

I must make a correction to my initial response.

I said that "you will need to use different software software to connect to MSN.". While you cannot video chat with a MSN client application if you use iChat or MSN Messenger for Mac, iChat's Jabber capability can let you connect through Jabber for text only with MSN client apps. How to do this is explained in the "Common PC Chat Applications and iChat" link above.

Thanks for letting us know your questions were answered.

Cheers,
Jim

Mac OS X (10.4.8)  G5 DP 1.8

For all,

Jabber in iChat
First three numbered links http://www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/page5.html#_jabber

1) is how to do Jabber
2) is how to do transports
3) is where to pick a server to do one and two



9:23 PM Wednesday; March 14, 2007