Alternative MSN

Alternative Ways of Connecting to MSN Messenger via RISC OS

The most widely-used instant messenger system available in the world is MSN Messenger. There are many ways of connecting to MSN Messenger from RISC OS, the most popular way being to buy Grapevine from RComp. However, there are several alternative ways to connect to MSN Messenger from RISC OS without spending a penny:

Bitlbee – http://www.bitlbee.com

By using the Bitlbee IRC server you can connect to ICQ, MSN, Jabber and many other instant messenger services – as well as IRC – from your IRC client. You can connect to the Bitlebee IRC server from any RISC OS IRC client, and Cretin (http://jymbob.drobe.co.uk) is highly recommended. This has more features than Grapevine, but can also be more confusing to use.

eBuddy – http://www.ebuddy.com or MSN Web Messenger – http://webmessenger.msn.com

You can access MSN messenger from most modern RISC OS web browsers (NetSurf is recommended) using http://www.ebuddy.com/mobile/ which is a non-JavaScript web messenger client designed for portable devices. Those of you who have a JavaScript enabled browser (Webster XL is recommended) can access the JavaScript version, which is more fully-featured. It even includes the ability to display pictures, which is not even available in Grapevine at the moment.

Parmesan – http://parmesan.recoil.org/

A RISC OS native MSN Messenger client released as Freeware.