ETIS-CT-2004-508507
MisMec
New Methods for Involving SMEs in Mechatronics sectors in FP6
Specific Support Action
Stepping up Economic and Technological Intelligence
Project Deliverable Report
Deliverable no
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Deliverable title
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Partner
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Deliverable due date
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Actual submission date
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15
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Develop networking practices
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IVF
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36
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24 and 36
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Start date of project: 1st December 2004
Duration: 36 months
Organisation name of lead contractor for this deliverable
IVF – IVF Industrial Research and Development Corporation
Table of contents
Introduction to Instant messaging clients 3
MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger and .Net Messenger 3
ICQ 3
Google Talk 4
Skype 4
AIM (AIM Pro) 5
Yahoo Messenger 5
Miranda (GAIM, Trillian…) 6
Conclusion 7
Introduction to Instant messaging clients
There are a number of available instant messaging clients (IMs), with different protocols, advantages, disadvantages and features. Among the IMs we have tested are MSN Messenger/.Net Messenger, Windows Messenger, ICQ, Google talk and Skype. There is also a special kind of clients that can connect to several IM services, examples of such clients are Miranda, Trillian and GAIM.
In the past there have been problems with connections through firewalls, which prevented the use of IM in organisations. Now all IM clients have at least limited functionality even through firewalls, but even today only Skype and Google Talk have full functionality when all IM parties are located behind non-UPnP-firewalls.
M  SN Messenger, Windows Messenger and .Net Messenger
The MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger which seems to be renamed to .Net Messenger share the same functionality and probably code base, the biggest difference is in the appearance. Windows Messenger has a more professional appearance while MSN Messenger is more relaxed or youthful.
Comparable to ICQ, AIM and Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger is popular especially among young people, probably mostly because it is available on all Windows PC:s and it has some funny features and causes a lot of network traffic.
Protocol: Proprietary MSN Messenger protocol (MSNP) (http://www.hypothetic.org/docs/msn/general/overview.php)
Functionality: Presence, Groups, Instant Messaging (with save), File transfer, Voice, Video, Voice messages, Shared Whiteboard, Desktop sharing, Remote assistance
Firewall problems: Unable to communicate via live sound and video when both parties are behind corporate firewalls.
Offline functionality: When the other party is offline it is impossible to send him/her a message.
S everal locations: Only allowed to be logged in at one location at a time
Security: Does not encrypt text messages
In short: Possible to use professionally and available on all PCs. Biggest disadvantages are limited firewall compatibility and offline functionality.
ICQ
ICQ was among the first IMs and it still has a large user base. It was bought by America On Line (AOL) but still competes with their own IM client, AIM. ICQ has always had a “cluttered” user interface with large resource footprint and advertisements.
It is comparable to MSN Messenger, AIM and Yahoo Messenger.
There is also a WEB-version to use if the software is not installed locally.
Protocol: Proprietary protocol called OSCAR (http://iserverd.khstu.ru/oscar/)
Functionality: Presence, Groups, Instant Messaging (with history and save), File transfer, Voice, Video, SMS
Firewall problems: Unable to communicate via live sound and video when both parties are behind firewalls.
Offline functionality: When the other party is offline messages are cached on a central server and when the other party logs in to ICQ he/she receives it immediately.
Several locations: Only allowed to be logged in at one location at a time
Security: Does not encrypt text messages
In short: Possible to use professionally, the offline message handling is superior and always available, on the WEB if not installed. Biggest disadvantage is limited firewall compatibility.
G oogle Talk
Google has a special kind of IM client. It is mainly intended to provide speech but has also the traditional IM functionalities, presence indication and short message handling. The gmail account is used which means that the user must have such a gmail account. Integrates very nicely with gmail. Very clean and nice-looking.
Protocol: Open standards based Jabber/XMPP
Functionality: Presence, Instant Messaging (with history), Voice, File transfer
Firewall problems: The sound is degraded when both parties are behind firewalls. Technically it first tries a direct connection (via UDP), if that doesn’t work it tries UDP-connection to proxy server, and finally resorts to TCP-connection to proxy.
Offline functionality: When the other party is offline messages are cached locally, so as soon as both parties are logged in simultaneously the message is sent.
Several locations: It is possible to log in at several locations, but pretty much arbitrary which one of the logged in sessions that receives any incoming calls and messages.
Security: Does not encrypt text messages
In short: Biggest disadvantage is that it doesn’t have video capability at all, and that the sound quality sometimes is poor.
If video is not needed and the users already use gmail, it might however be a good solution.
S kype
Skype is mostly a VOIP-application but has also all other IM functionalities. A bonus is that it is possible to do voice calls to standard POTS telephones, and even to get ordinary telephone numbers that allows users to call from ordinary phones to the Skype account. The voice quality is also among the best.
Protocol: Proprietary Skype protocol
Functionality: Presence, Instant Messaging (with history), File transfer, Voice (max 9 participants), Video (max 2 participants), Voice messages. Via add-ons (such as Festoon or Unyte) also application sharing.
Firewall problems: No firewall problems.
Offline functionality: When the other party is offline messages are cached locally, so as soon as both parties are logged in simultaneously the message is sent.
Several locations: It is possible to be logged in at several locations simultaneously. All locations receive incoming calls.
Security: Encrypts text, voice and video conversations, but using unknown algorithms
In short: Currently the best IM to use for professional use. Biggest drawback is that it is getting a bit cluttered with all functionality and that the grouping of contacts is not so user friendly.
A IM (AIM Pro)
Traditional IM comparable to MSN Messenger, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger.
AIM Pro looks nice while AIM for Windows installs a lot of unwanted programs, such as AIM Address Book, AOL Explorer and AOL Toolbar for IE, and sets AIM Today as homepage. Advertisements are displayed in the user interface of AIM for Windows.
There is also a WEB-version to use if the software is not installed locally.
Protocol: OSCAR, same as ICQ
Functionality: Presence, Groups, Instant Messaging (with history and save), File transfer, Voice, Video, Desktop and file sharing
Firewall problems: Unable to connect from work (at all), but possible to use Miranda as front-end.
Offline functionality: When the other party is offline it is impossible to send him/her a message.
Several locations: Works like a charm.
Security: Encrypts messages by default, possible to disable encryption
In short: Not recommended as professional tool due to problems to connect at all or at least limited functionality through firewalls and limited offline capability.
Yahoo Messenger
T raditional IM comparable with MSN Messenger, ICQ and AIM.
Installs a Yahoo toolbar and adds a lot of favourites to IE.
Updates presence slowly.
Protocol: OSCAR, same as ICQ
Functionality: Presence, Groups, Instant Messaging (with history and save), File transfer, Voice, Video
Firewall problems: Unable to communicate via live sound and video when both parties are behind firewalls.
Offline functionality: When the other party is offline it is impossible to send him/her a message.
Several locations: Only allowed to be logged in at one location at a time.
Security: Does not encrypt text messages
In short: Possible but not recommended to use professionally. Biggest disadvantages are limited firewall compatibility, offline capability and all stuff that installs along with it.
M iranda (GAIM, Trillian…)
Miranda is a front-end to several IM networks such as MSN, ICQ, AIM, Jabber and so on. An advantage is that if you have contacts in several different IM networks you can still use only one application. Another advantage is the nice appearance, but a drawback is that it lacks some functionality.
There are other similar applications, such as GAIM and Trillian. The following more or less stands for these as well.
Protocol: Several protocols such as MSNP, OSCAR, Jabber, yhoo and so on
Functionality: Presence, Groups, Instant Messaging (with save), File transfer. Trillian also audio and Trillian Pro video.
Firewall problems: Trillian is unable to communicate via live sound and video when both parties are behind firewalls.
Offline functionality: Depending on the IM network used
Several locations: Depending on the IM network used
Security: Depending on the IM network used
In short: Can be a good solution especially when using several IM networks simultaneously, but may not support all functionalities.
Conclusion
It is necessary for the software to work through firewall and to be simple to install. AIM is not guaranteed to connect through firewalls and Yahoo Messenger installs malware so they are excluded.
The absolute minimal functionality is Presence and Instant Messaging with the possibility to save conversation. That gives a selection of MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, Skype and Miranda/GAIM/Trillian. If voice and video is desired, only Skype is valid. If security is an issue, Skype is again the top choice. AIM can encrypt but doesn’t wotk through firewalls, any other IM must use an add-on to encrypt the messages. So, all in all, currently Skype is by far the best IM tool available.
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