BitWiseIM for Mac OS X

Homepage: http://bitwiseim.com
Features: http://www.bitwiseim.com/features.php
Signup: http://bitwiseim.com/signup.php
Forum: http://www.bitwiseim.com/forums.php
Support: http://www.bitwiseim.com/support.php
Documentation: http://www.bitwiseim.com/docs.php
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Current Version: v 1.72
released: 19 June 2006
filename: (OS X 10.4) BitWise-Tiger.dmg
size: 8.09 Mb
downloads also available for OS X 10.3.9 Panther and OS X 10.2.8 Jaguar
see BitWiseIM version history

Features:
BitWiseIM is a no frills, no fuss, free, cross platform Instant Messenger that is jam packed full of features but what I really love about it, apart from the simplicity, is that no matter what platform you or your friends on the features are identical.. if you have it then they do too, no more worrying or confusion about who has what, can see what, or can do what.

BitWise accounts come in 3 flavours
- BitWise Personal (free) for personal use.
- BitWise Plus also for personal use, but has additional encryption and security features (one time fee).
- BitWise Professional is for business IM (features administration, user rights, technical support etc).
and the only real difference (in features) is the increased encryption and business model.

The features list is impressive but encryption seems to be the biggest puller, but that's not all that BitWiseIM is about as it supports basic text IM, voice, whiteboard, file sharing, conferencing, offline messages (which you can get forwarded to an email account), custom status message, the archive / logging features and flexibility are well thought out, and if you're on the go quite a bit you'll be pleased to know that BitWiseIM fits nicely on, and can be run from, a removeable drive. BitWise also supports Web Bugs (online status indicators) which is handy and there is an article which explains how to use your own custom images.

There are a couple of drawbacks to using BitWiseIM, I guess one of the most notable (and much debated) features lacking is webcam functionality, the topic has been raised on and off throughout their forum (last raised in the topic webcam implementing idea) and basically the answer is that it's not coming soon, if at all (see FAQ "Will BitWise support web cams?"). Another major drawback is the lack of access to / with the other Instant Messenger networks, (Yahoo!, AIM, MSN etc), it's also been discussed at their forum Permitting Trillian/GAIM on the Bitwise network? and is well worth a read (along with BitWise Open Source Thoughts)... you can't beat logic nor practicality :)