Proteus
Current Version: 4.2 (June 9, 2008)
Proteus is a simple and attractive Mac OS X instant messaging application that supports the ICQ, MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Jabber and Yahoo! Messenger protocols. One distinctive feature of Proteus is that it separates the user interface from the actual services that interact with IM servers. These services run in self-contained daemon application that handles each connection independently. Some distinctive features include:
- Message bar icon - easy access via OS X's Menu bar. Change your status and see how many unread messages are waiting for you.
- Connect to as many accounts as you want - multiple instances of each account type are supported.
- Make use of Mac OS X's advanced password management - Proteus integrates with OS X's keychain, making password managment simple and universal.
- Broadcast conversations to other contacts, across services - become a virtual-host of a chat room for your buddies. Proteus acts as the hub, redirecting your contacts messages out to any reciepient.
Version 4.2 adds bug fixes and new icons.
User Reviews
"I started off using Fire in OS X, then I found Proteus. Proteus is a neat, simple, easy to install chat client that picks up and handles all of my existing chat accounts in one simple interface. The message windows can be 'docked' so that only one message window takes up screen real-estate, and you can even broadcast messages among a list of users in your 'buddy' lists, so that it ends up acting like a pseudo-chat room. Neato."
—Blair Cameron
(Version 4.1) "In my quest for a good, attractive and powerful multi-service IM client I tried Proteus, but after using Adium I was unimpressed. Adium does everything Proteus does, and far more. The fact that Adium does it for free sealed Proteus' fate. Proteus was dragged to the trash and I'll keep using Adium until Proteus improves. I simply couldn't find any advantages to using Proteus over Adium, and little advantage over Fire (Proteus is a wee bit more attractive than Fire - but that's all)."
—Jamie Kahn Genet
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the Mac OS X (Cocoa / Universal) version.Also See . . .
Can't find what you're looking for? Try a search:
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Finally, take a look at ALEMIA if you think you know that name of an application, but aren't quite sure.
Also Consider . . .
These are applications that are newer and of potential interest, but which I haven't yet selected for permanent inclusion. Have a look, and let me know if you think they deserve to be part of the permanent collection!