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kick52 · Aug 21, 2005, 05:17 AM

Hi,

Can any1 recommend me the best MSN app and the most advanced?
I will need to run on my mac (see sig) OS X 1.3

cheers, kick52

PurpleGiant · Aug 21, 2005, 05:22 AM

Your best options:

Adium. Very nice application, great interface, connects to multiple services (AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo etc). Supports text, display pictures, file transfers.

Mercury Messenger. Poor interface, MSN-only, however supports text, audio and video chat. Also supports most of MSN's other frivolous features. If you want all the MSN settings, but don't mind a poor interface, use this. If you just want a neat, well-made Mac-like app, use Adium.

kick52 · Aug 21, 2005, 05:32 AM

cheers!

Ji Eun · Aug 21, 2005, 01:41 PM

unfortunately adium still drops the ball on FT.
best msn app is still msn.

viruscool · Aug 22, 2005, 06:29 AM

MSN is not the best MSN app, it has features missing that Adium has. So I'm going to suggest Adium, it has a competant amount of features, great GUI and very customizable for you Theme adicts out there!

PurpleGiant · Aug 22, 2005, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by Ji Eun

unfortunately adium still drops the ball on FT.
best msn app is still msn.

My experience is the exact opposite.

Adium I can send and receive files 100% of the time successfully. The newer versions have a real transfer window and everything.

Using the new MSN 5, any files sent to me I click 'accept' and they never start transferring. Have you tried Adium in the past 6 months or so?

ShotgunEd · Aug 22, 2005, 07:03 AM

Adium rules.

I've been using it for over a year and am very happy with it.

analogika · Aug 22, 2005, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by PurpleGiant

Mercury Messenger. ...supports text, audio and video chat.

Woah.

Really?

Like, there's finally an option? aMSN never worked for me...

d.fine · Aug 22, 2005, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by ShotgunEd

Adium rules.

I've been using it for over a year and am very happy with it.

PurpleGiant · Aug 22, 2005, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

Like, there's finally an option? aMSN never worked for me...

Well, the catch at the moment is that the OS X version currently only supports incoming video, not outgoing. Given that the linux and windows versions can do both, I think this is somewhat temporary.

cleanup · Aug 22, 2005, 09:47 AM

Adium.

Unfortunately, Adium doesn't handle file transfers very well...

Ji Eun · Aug 22, 2005, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by cleanup

Adium.

Unfortunately, Adium doesn't handle file transfers very well...

i am an avid adium user, feature requester, and pathological updater, going on 1.5 years.
sadly, FT is still hit or miss, very 50/50, just as this guy i'm quoting has posted.
while the GUI is still the dog's balls, if i 'need' to do FT i will use iChat, MSN, or just email.

Russian Mac fan · Aug 22, 2005, 02:52 PM

iChat with jabber enabled using the MSN transport from jabber.no -- it supports MSN icons in iChat

DIPESH14 · Aug 22, 2005, 04:52 PM

So wat would be the best app to use to view cams, because msns so crap. Is there an alternative to Mercury?

- - e r i k - - · Aug 22, 2005, 08:37 PM

Mercury is most definitely the only way to go if you want the MSN features that even the official client lack. Too bad the interface is sh*tty (that will never even change due to the "multi-platformclient not mac-platform client" attitude of the developers) and the client itself is unstable. But they prove that it's possible to support all those features, so developers of other (good) clients should really get on the boat and make a mac-like client that incorporates all the MSN-features.

Sarc · Aug 23, 2005, 02:04 PM

on the File Transfer issue,
this has to do with each client's ability to make direct connections to the recipient.

Mercury and MSN oficial can do this, the others, can't.

PurpleGiant · Aug 23, 2005, 04:57 PM

I feel very lucky then that I receive at least two files every day over MSN, using Adium. 100% success rate, all from different people using MSN for Windows.

I have yet to successfully receive a file using the official MSN client.

DIPESH14 · Aug 24, 2005, 09:18 AM

Guess I'll just stick with mercury and keep my fingers crossed that someone else develops something a little better.

jeffB · Aug 24, 2005, 10:54 AM

i've been using fire for aim, msn, and irc

blackstar · Aug 25, 2005, 08:44 PM

what do you guys think about ichat, i really don't use instant messaging right now

veryniceguy2002 · Apr 23, 2006, 05:08 AM

Can someone what's the best MSN messenger client available now?

What I definitely need are MSN 7 features used by my friends in PC world.

I tried Fire, and it isn't good.
I tried aMSN, but it's slow (G4 upgraded B&W G3), and doesn't seems to have MSN 7 features.
I tried Mercury messenger, and it looks like it has just about what I want (and it's customisable via XML which is good). However, I cannot get sound played (so no audible alarm when someone typed the message), and I can get those Flash based wink work.

Anyone has suggestion any other good client available??

RevEvs · Apr 23, 2006, 11:14 AM

I've gone with aMSN. Its somewhere between Adium and Mercury Messenger. And I've got a nice them so it fits in nicely

- - e r i k - - · Apr 26, 2006, 12:30 AM

The winks only work in a browser or the quicktime player as far as I can remember. You have to open the package and set the files to open in either.

I never use sound myself so I can't comment on that "problem".

jason5 · May 22, 2006, 08:23 PM

The only thing missing for me in Adium has to be the webcam capabilities, and the custom emoticons, but come to think about it, have you ever tried the Windows MSN, and some n00b sends you huge emoticons that replace letters, or frequently used words... come to think about it, it's better off without it! lol but Adium, have to give it 4on5 stars

veryniceguy2002 · May 23, 2006, 07:16 AM

Tried Mercury Messenger for about a month now. Features-wise it's very good, got most of MSN7 features (as I stated a month ago). I don't think there's any other Mac MSN client that support MSN7 features.

It's quite unstable. I installed J2SE 5.0 when Apple release the update a few weeks ago, and Mercury just crashed every 15 minutes or so. Had to go back to J2SE 1.4.2. Even that it's still not solid.

It's buggy. Often I receive false Chat Request (even when I'm invisible or got request from someone whose offline). And it's s-l-o-w...

However, if MSN7 features is important to you, then you don't have much choice other than Mercury Messenger.

siMac · May 24, 2006, 07:43 AM

Adium is far and away the best IMHO. File transfers can be unpredictable, but I believe this should improve when version 1.0 hits since they're making significant under-the-hood changes.

j3tang · Jun 19, 2006, 06:30 PM

does aMSN or Mercury or other of these apps allow for SMS ?
I've been using Adium for a while and have enjoyed it, but would like to test out other apps that also allow SMS to mobile phones. It appears that MSN 5 does not allow this .. or am i not looking in the right spots?

wr11 · Jun 20, 2006, 04:16 PM

What, no one likes Proteus? I've been using it for years and love it, now that it's free everyone can love it to

So yeah I would suggest Proteus, the other other other messenger. It gets extra points for a well designed and intuitive interface.

http://www.defaultware.com/proteus/

- - e r i k - - · Jun 20, 2006, 08:27 PM

I used to love Proteus too, but I finally made the switch to Adium. Has everything Proteus ever did and more. Plus it was always free and now it's updated more too.