the reindeer effect

So, with the addition of AIM service to Gmail, I figured that I would stop using Meebo. However, Meebo still has a place in my bookmarks toolbar. I’ve written up a list of pros and cons to using Gmail + Chat in place of Meebo:

Cons

• Window management: To me, this is the reason that I generally continue to use Meebo. In Gmail, conversations can be minimized to the bottom edge of the browser window or popped out into separate windows. Meebo matches these features. Gmail, however, lacks the ability to resize, relocate, or even reorder conversations in any given tab. It automatically increases the height of the window as your chat goes on (capped at around 300 pixels), but this doesn’t compare to the ability to resize at will. This issue carries forward to the buddy list, which is probably more crucial. You can choose from four different height options, and there’s some option to only show your “most popular” contacts, but since I haven’t spent huge amounts of time on it, the people it picks to display are usually not very helpful.
• Lack of multi-protocol support: Gmail lacks support for MSN and Yahoo! IM services. This is no big deal to me since all of my friends that use IM have either an AIM or Jabber account, but for some people I’m sure the addition of AIM support was about as useful as the addition of MSN support would be to me.

Pros

• Logging: This is the main reason why I had considered switching to Gmail from Meebo for web-based IM. Gmail saves your chat logs alongside your email messages. While Meebo does offer searchable logs, searching can only be done on a per-contact basis.
• Email integration: IM and email are inherently complementary services. Gmail allows you to transition between messaging and emailing your contacts with ease. Also, it provides presence information with your emails, along the lines of Apple’s Mail/iChat integration. These features wouldn’t be something that I would expect or even want from Meebo, but they certainly can be useful to have in a mail client

Conclusion

Overall, the addition of AIM to Gmail+Chat has made it a viable alternative to Meebo. While Meebo’s interface remains far better, Google’s search features and integration with the Gmail client make it highly convenient. I use Gmail+Chat if I’m just checking if someone is online, since I use Gmail as my only email client and often have a Gmail tab open anyway. But for any sort of prolonged chat, Meebo is still the best.