BitWise IM

BitWiseIM is a stand alone Instant Messenger and IMHO, a highly underrated one too, it's packed full of the features most IM'ers are looking for, in fact it has more than initially meets the eye, but sadly most I have spoken to about it think it's a minor player on a rather large playing field with no hope of a touch down because it doesn't shake hands with the big brothers that rule to IM world... I couldn't disagree more.

BitWise IM offers:
BitWise IM offers, right across the board, regardless of platform (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux compatible) or option (Personal, Plus, Professional) a wide range of features:
Encryption (128 bit blowfish), Whiteboard (up to 100 pages, drag and drop graphics up to 256x256), file transfer (up to 4GB, resume, queueing and throttling), voice, direct connection, invisible login, tabbed conversations, typing notification, users local time, timestamps, logs (chat history), contact icons 64x64 (avatars / display pictures), message receipts, block users, confirmation of addition to a friends list, conferencing, can be run from removable drive, off line messages and more.

BitWiseIM is compact, user friendly and intuitive, it's also, and more importantly, incredibly reliable which is just fantastic if you have a deadline or must-have online meeting orgranised because you can without doubt, question or worry rely on BitWise to be ready and waiting. The support is extensive, whitepapers are available for those seeking a brain bender and their is a dokuwiki for those seeking front end information and there is nice wee community feel and flavour going on over at their forum. Yes BitWiseIM is missing webcam support, and no it doesn't have any smileys, the webcam issue has been addressed in their forum thread webcam implementing idea and the smileys are due for release in the 4th quarter of this year with version two. Crossing the networks to incorporate the likes of Yahoo!, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM etc isn't and option and it doesn't appear to be on the horizons, something I am most grateful for, there is a really interesting topic in their forum Permitting Trillian/GAIM on the Bitwise network? which is well worth a read to get some understanding behind why BitWiseIM will remain a stand-alone Instant Messenger. By the way, the BitWiseIM Tips & Tricks section of their dokuwiki is well worth checking out also.

It comes in 3 flavours, BitWise Personal is free for home / personal use, if you want additonal encryption (up from 128 bit to 256 bit) and more security features then for a one time fee of US$25 ( a 15 day trial is available) you can take the leap to BitWisePlus, and then there is BitWise Professional (448 bit) for the big guns that need administrator rights, a secure and private network with full technical support. 

If you want to know more about the encryption side of things then swing by BitWiseIM.com ~ Encryption, and while you're there, copy and paste this...

B843A251EF07BA2EC3FC27DB46BFF09767B1D1960E7D42156FFB76825B2ADF58

into the right hand box, click decrypt and email the results to me if you like, even better if it's encrypted :)

Current Version..
Version: 1.7.2 11 19 June 2006
Windows XP, 2000, Me, 98, NT
Mac OS X
Linux

BitWise IM General Links:
Homepage ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/
Features ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/features.php
Signup ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/signup.php
Web Services Login ~ https://www.bitwiseim.com/webservices.php
Download ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/download.php
Support ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/support.php
Forum ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/phpBB2/
About BitWise Communications ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/about.php
Contact ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/contact.php
License agreement ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/license.php
Privacy Policy ~ http://www.bitwiseim.com/privacy.php