Due to the Christmas season and the change of year that occurs in the month of December, a large number of people try to find different types of alternatives to chat with friends and family that are very distant from each other.
Although we had previously suggested a little trick to implement Google Talk within Outlook.com service and thus, to be able to converse (chat) with all our contacts and friends, we must also mention that It is not the only service that we could be using for this purpose and objective. The reason for this article is to make known to many other alternatives that you can use completely free of charge and without having to install absolutely nothing on the computer (as far as possible).
The first alternative that we will mention at this moment is precisely this, which has changed its name from ICQ2Go to Web-ICQ; You must have the Adobe flash Player plugin installed to be able to run this messaging and chat service.
This messaging and chat service is very similar (in terms of its operation) to what can be seen in Outlook.com; You just have to go to your personal Yahoo profile and choose the option to chat from the same browser.
- 3. Google Talk
Only you need a gmail account so that you can enjoy the messaging and chat service offered by Google, a service that goes by the name of gTalk; You can find it in the left sidebar, which is generally shown as "offline". Only the contacts that you have added to your lists will be those with whom you can start a conversation.
Almost in a similar way to the two services mentioned above, to use Messenger only you need to have an account open in Outlook.com or Hotmail.com. The icon that you must choose to activate the chat function is in the upper right part of the browser interface.
This service is generally known as AIM Express, which also works from the web. To be able to use each of its functionalities, the browser must have the Adobe flash Player plugin installed. One of the additional advantages that this service presents is that the user has the possibility of integrating their Facebook or Google Talk contacts to chat from this online tool.
- 6. Trillian
Trillian also has a version to be used from the web, an environment from where you can configure different messaging services to be able to have each and every one of them, integrated in one place.
- 7. eBuddy
Like the previous alternative, in eBuddy the user can configure, from the settings, the integration of contacts that belong to msn, facebook, yahoo, google talk, MySpace, ICQ and AIM among many others.
- 8. imo
If you use the online service of this tool, you will have the possibility of integrating the services of Steam and Skype when chatting with your contacts or friends in general. Something additional that is presented in this alternative, is the possibility of using its feature called «OIM», which refers to the possibility of sending short voice messages.
- 9. IM +
If you have contacts and friends in Russia, this alternative will be very helpful for you. It uses SSL features to connect directly to Russian networks among many others.
- 10 ILoveIM
Since Windows Live Messenger nowadays stopped working as a client to be installed on the desktop, ILoveIM could be an excellent replacement for such an application. Here we offer a very attractive interface to chat with all our friends, although from the web and without having to install absolutely anything on the computer. The tool supports video and audio calls.
- 11. Karoo lark
Powered by JavaScript, Karoo Lark is an excellent alternative that relies on 7 different networks when connecting with any contact to chat.
- 12. Instant-t Express
With a minimalist interface, Instan-t Express supports only 5 networks to chat with friends and family. They come from msn, Google, AOL, Yahoo and ICQ.
With each of the alternatives that we have mentioned, you already have the possibility to start chatting with family members or friends who are very distant from you. Most of these online services work from the web completely free, with some of them having the possibility of downloading a client to install on the computer.