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Meebo Discontinuing All Services Except for Meebo Bar 121

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the and-you-thought-microsoft-was-fast dept.
An anonymous reader writes with news of Meebo's fate, a mere six days after being acquired by Google. From the article: "Meebo, which began in 2005 as a browser based instant messaging program, will now cease most of its services by next month. The IM service supported various IM platforms such as Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, CafeMom and others." Their cash cow, the Meebo bar, will "...continue to be available to site publishers and will see continued improvements and new features in the weeks and months ahead." With Meebo killing off their messenger, are there any good Android chat alternatives that aren't tied to Google Talk?
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Meebo Discontinuing All Services Except for Meebo Bar More

Meebo Discontinuing All Services Except for Meebo Bar

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  • embrace and extinguish? (Score:3)

    by aintnostranger ( 1811098 ) on Monday June 11, 2012 @07:06PM (#40290049)
    I wonder what the motivation behind this is... is it to take a competitor out of the road? Or maybe it's more bening, such as gaining qualified employees?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Jeng ( 926980 )

      Even though it sounds like it may be mainly about getting good employees, and the toolbar crap, that isn't a reason to stop the other services they don't care about.

      Or if they do, at least wait a little while. On the Meebo website they have the listing of discontinued services, and then up in the corner "Google has acquired Meebo!""Learn More". I think Meebo's customers have learned enough already.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by catmistake ( 814204 )

      I wonder what the motivation behind this is... is it to take a competitor out of the road? Or maybe it's more bening, such as gaining qualified employees?

      I think it's definitely Bennings. [youtube.com]

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • April fools? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by glassware ( 195317 ) on Monday June 11, 2012 @07:07PM (#40290057) Homepage Journal

    Wow, first read I had to look at the date.

    Meebo Bar is like a total perversion of everything they once did well. I used to love using Meebo since it provided a centralized place to track all my conversations. But when I started seeing the Meebo Bar appear elsewhere I ditched them. Who knew they'd all of a sudden be acquired just to obtain control of something horrible like this?

    • Re:April fools? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Riceballsan ( 816702 ) on Monday June 11, 2012 @07:18PM (#40290129)
      I general when google aquires something, what is left alone, is what google doesn't have interest in. Google's aquisitions are usually about integrating what they want into their own services. Unfortunately it does usually involve some losses. I would say it is highly probable that in the next 3 months or so, the web based google talk, will be adding MSN, facebook and other IM compatibilities.
      • Yep. When Google acquired Motorola Mobility, I knew that Zumodrive (a service very similar to DropBox that had recently before been acquired by Moto Mobility) would be on the chopping block, and sure enough, after a couple of months I got an email telling me that I needed to download everything from their servers before they shut down completely. At least they gave me the option of doing that though, which was nice.

      • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I general when google aquires something

        WTF does that mean?

      • I would say it is highly probable that in the next 3 months or so, the web based google talk, will be adding MSN, facebook and other IM compatibilities

        But why the hell acquiring Meebo for that?!
        The support for multiple chat networks is done thanks to Pidgin's LibPurple (also used in Adium, HP/Palm's WebOS, etc.) which is already open source.
        Google could already use it if they want multi-protocol support.

        What the meebo people did is develop their wonderful web interface (a complete window manager in AJAX) bringing an almost desktop-application-like experience on web browsers (which in itself is impressive). But the multi-protocole support wasn't their work

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by Dynedain ( 141758 )

      The Meebo Bar is a major revenue-generating ad platform. Google most likely bought out Meebo for the ad market (like doubleclick) not the chat functionality.

      • Re:April fools? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by icebike ( 68054 ) * on Monday June 11, 2012 @08:42PM (#40290747)

        The Meebo Bar is a major revenue-generating ad platform. Google most likely bought out Meebo for the ad market (like doubleclick) not the chat functionality.

        Really? I doubt all 58 people actively using meebo could generate that much revenue.

        Admittedly, I've only been around for some few weeks, but I never heard about meebo till google bought them.
        There are so many good multi-protocol messenger clients around for just about any platform you may wish
        to run. The only reason to ever use meebo was that it was browser based, but with a cell phone in every
        pocket how important is that?

        As the first link in the summary suggests, this is probably to bolster Google +, which, by all accounts is
        not living up to Google's expectations.

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Admittedly, I've only been around for some few weeks

          Only a few weeks old and already writing? That's amazing.

          Although it's very sad to see you discovered slashdot. I hate to think what will happen to your developing brain.

        • No, it's not people installing the Meebo bar on their browser... website owners can use Meebo to run advertising on their sites (much like adwords but incredibly more obnoxious).

          As a web developer, I was surprised to find out they actually offered a useful service for end-user.

          • As a web developer, I was surprised to find out they actually offered a useful service for end-user.

            Care to list the benefits of Meebo, after being acquired by Google, I mean ?

            • I meant that I was surprised to find out about the messaging app. I only knew about them because of the horrendous ad-serving package some of my clients had installed. I assume that service is being merged into DoubleClick and Adwords campaigns.

        • Please tell me what android messenger you'd recommend that has cross-protocol support like Pidgin on desktops and Meebo IM did on my phone?

        • I've used Meebo ever since I switched from Windows to Linux full time back in 2006 or so. I still have quite a few people who use MSN messenger regularly but don't use much else. Yes, Pidgin works decently, but Meebo works with all the computers I have or can use with a single login. Use a friend's laptop? I've still got all my accounts without adding extra software. Use a public terminal? Same thing.

          I've always liked Meebo and I'm very sad to see it go. The "Meebo Bar" can go die in a fire though, of c

  • Yes, there is. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11, 2012 @07:08PM (#40290061)

    Imo.im is actually a better solution for multi-service instant messaging on Android than Meebo,

  • http://www.xabber.com/ [xabber.com]
    XMPP (Jabber) client with multi-account support.

    • It would be nice if EVERYONE switched over to open jabber servers. Get off all these proprietary services.

      But then, who would pay for the server loads? Server resource and network bandwidth isn't exactly free.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by kwalker ( 1383 )

        Who pays for IM? It's always been a free add-on service for something else.

        Most newer IM services are already Jabber/XMPP (Facebook, LiveJournal, etc). There are only a few "legacy" services that I know of anymore (YIM, AIM, MSN).

        Plus, Jabber/XMPP services can connect to these other services through bridge connector plug-ins, though from what I've seen, there's almost no interest in working on them.

        • I wish I could abandon those "legacy" services. Want to convince my friends to move from YIM/AIM/MSN en masse for me?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Korin43 ( 881732 )

        Server resource and network bandwidth isn't exactly free.

        Chat bandwidth is so minor, it might as well be. There's plenty of people willing to run IRC servers for free.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by icebike ( 68054 ) *

        It would be nice if EVERYONE switched over to open jabber servers. Get off all these proprietary services.

        But then, who would pay for the server loads? Server resource and network bandwidth isn't exactly free.

        The server resources are in fact virtually free, and as such you will find dozens of places that run a XMPP/Jabber server for exactly zero money. They have the bandwidth and the boxes for their other business, and it costs them no more to allow other to use excess capacity.

        There are many lists of these, such as https://list.jabber.at/ [jabber.at] http://xmpp.net/ [xmpp.net] etc.

        They are all inter-operable, and I routinely communicate (BOTH to and from jabber) with Google Talk or Xabber, or Kopete.

        Jabber isn't just for text any

  • Check out http://imo.im/ [imo.im]. It has integration of practically every messaging service, as well as a great and android app.

    • Check out http://imo.im/ [imo.im]. It has integration of practically every messaging service, as well as a great and android app.

      Yeah, I too use imo on my Android. Low battery consumption, works quite well.

    • I'll second that. I've been using Imo for quite a while now. When I first got an Android device I tried a number of IM clients and eventually settled on Imo. I tried eBuddy for a short time, but it requires that you create an eBuddy account and then add all of your other IM accounts to that. Imo, on the other hand, acts like a normal multi-account client and has you manage your accounts locally with the client and logs into them directly from your phone.

      I can see the benefit of the eBuddy method for a d

    • Oh yay, yet another account to create. It's not enough that I have accounts for the networks I want to connect to?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gozar ( 39392 )
        IMO doesn't require you to create an account. You just click on the service you want to use and log in.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Njovich ( 553857 )

      I see a lot of people write this, but the web version of imo.im doesn't seem close to the quality of Meebo... Meebo was the best multi-protocol web messenger by a huge margin. Then again, with everyone having a phone with a bunch IM capabilities these days, it may not matter. I always used Meebo whenever I wanted to access MSN messenger, which these days is never.

      Meebo android client was nice when it launched but they never updated it.

      I actually like it that they are stopping the service now, as now they of

    • I'm checking it out, however I can't figure out how the hell I can join chat groups for Jabber. Is there a secret button somewhere hidden in the interface? Thanks!

  • Thanks google... (Score:3)

    by wbr1 ( 2538558 ) on Monday June 11, 2012 @07:30PM (#40290235)
    I use Meebo IM on my android phone, very regularly. I started, because I use Yahoo messenger quite a bit (not by choice, because someone I care about does, and after logging so many messages, the android version of Yahoo IM gets crappy as hell. Every time you go to the keyboard or to the contact list, and back to a conversation with lots of past messages it is dog slow (we are talking up to 5 minutes), even though the messages are stored remotely.. it reloads/parses them EVERY time.. and crashes often.

    Google Talk on android sucks too, messages may come in upto 15 minutes late or not at all, especially if you have a web gmail open somewhere with gtalk embedded. Meebo is a good fix for that too. The best I had found in alternate IM's for the phone. It is fast, light, and works, even on my low end phone.

    Any slashdotters know of other LIGHT and SNAPPY, android IM clients that support Yahoo and G Talk?

  • They're perhaps a little nicer about their acquisitions than Microsoft.

    Still, it's quite annoying. I now have five years of chat logs that differ slightly from the pidgin html format. There's an abandoned conversion program [sourceforge.net], but it lacks a makefile and I'm not keen on figuring out how to get it to compile. If anyone else is working on the same problem please do let me know.

    The whole affair makes me really wary about switching to another online chat program, but rolling my own equivalent service seems a bit complex. For the moment I'm symlinking pidgin's history files to my dropbox account, which is probably going to be a viable solution if I feel like installing Pidgin and Dropbox on every computer I want to chat on, or perhaps carry portable versions on a thumb drive. It's too bad meebo isn't an open source project, maybe google can do us that favor.

  • Useless (Score:3)

    by khellendros1984 ( 792761 ) on Monday June 11, 2012 @07:52PM (#40290411) Journal
    Well, that sucks. Meebo has been my go-to site to sign in to IM on when I'm not at my own computer. Time to strike it from my list, I guess.
  • and connects with the IM+ mobile apps.

  • Hmm, chat alternatives on a phone. Have you tried voice?

    • So Voice can send messages to my friend in the UK who uses MSN, or my childhood friend who uses AIM? Oh, how about my mother, who likes Yahoo?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by adolf ( 21054 )

        Sure. Voice is agnostic to such things. It doesn't care if you're black or white, American or Tommy. It doesn't care if you like Chevy or Ford.

        *shrug*

      • It's on a phone, I'm pretty sure he meant "make a phone call".

        • My point was that it was not a replacement solution.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fatphil ( 181876 )
            But your point falls flat, as no protocol is useful when the other end doesn't support that protocol. That doesn't need saying, it's carries zero bits of information.

            In my experience, for the last few decades, a mobile phone, that supports voice calls, has been the single mechanism for instantanious communication with the highest penetration (indistinguishable from 100% of all adults). No internet chat protocol has even come close to that bredth of usage.

            • But your point falls flat, as no protocol is useful when the other end doesn't support that protocol. That doesn't need saying, it's carries zero bits of information.

              You get that, and I get that. However, the person I was originally replying to apparently does not. Therefore while the bits it does carry (not zero, just superfluous) are redundant for you, they are not for the intended recipient.

              In my experience, for the last few decades, a mobile phone, that supports voice calls, has been the single mechanism for instantanious communication with the highest penetration (indistinguishable from 100% of all adults). No internet chat protocol has even come close to that bredth of usage.

              Sure, if you don't mind both parties being raped for an international call. IMs cost between nothing and almost-nothing (depending on if you pay for the data transfer... wifi, "unlimited plans" etc)

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Logaan ( 1769744 )
      Google voice doesn't work outside of the U.S., you insensitive clod!

  • A Few Alternatives (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I used to use Meebo on the desktop, but when I got Android I was surprised by just how bad Meebo's Android app was, so I stopped using it. Since then I've been using ebuddy, whose Android app is quite nice actually. The major downside to ebuddy is that they set your status message on every account to an advertisement for ebuddy without you necessarily knowing about it.

    Some friends of mine recommended Trillian for Android. I tried it, and it works relatively well, though I still prefer ebuddy. Multi clie

  • IMO (Score:1)

    by jminne ( 521597 )
    I've been using the web-based IMO. It even signs into skype!

  • I'm sorry, but any way to slice it, that's just a straight up anti-competitive move.

    I don't use Meebo, or much care about it, but Google is *clearly* using their might and cash to eliminate services. I can't decide whether it's Google trying to squash tools that marginalize the difference between competing products, thus eliminating any advantages one IM protocol has over another, or they are just trying to remove products from the landscape and further promote the mono-culture they have pushed so very har

  • eBuddy (Score:5, Informative)

    by Brain Damaged Bogan ( 1006835 ) on Monday June 11, 2012 @08:38PM (#40290723)
    eBuddy is a nice multi-IM client for android.

  • IM? (Score:1)

    by DogDude ( 805747 )
    I honestly had no idea that people still "instant messaged" each other. What's the point? Why not send a text via a cell phone?
    • Perhaps I'm not a masochist who wants to use a tiny screen and tiny keyboard on an under-powered device that's much less convenient than the desktop I'm sitting at?
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by adolf ( 21054 )

        Have you tried using an AJAX-ey chat client on a dumb terminal?

        My God, man. If there isn't an ncurses interface, at least, then count me out: I'd rather key SMTP commands directly into the recipient's mail server than try to use something like Meebo with a dumb terminal connected to a host running Links or somesuch.

        That all said, I do miss ytalk.

        (Sorry, but I'm simply very literal today. Yes, it's my fault. No, nothing you say will improve it.)

    • Cost.
      Sending cell text messages is also not entirely reliable between networks, especially internationally to/from US cellcos.
      Also, cost.

  • Google's new motto: (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Fuck it. Be evil. Pay's better!

  • I've been happy with Trillian.

    http://www.trillian.im/android/ [trillian.im]

  • Meebo bar? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Where is it? When's the happy hour?

  • What the hell are google thinking?

    Google really should copy Apple's imessage system - we need some kind of way to contact other Android users, for free (besides chat) - it should default to a replacement or seamless app like the iphone.

    I loathe apple but I have to give credit where credit is due.
    These meebo folk could've helped on creating Googles all in one messaging solution that works on the desktop or mobile - putting the meebo team to Google plus is a waste

    • These meebo folk could've helped on creating Googles all in one messaging solution that works on the desktop or mobile - putting the meebo team to Google plus is a waste

      What makes you think that Google+ isn't intended to include Google's all-in-one messaging solution that works on desktop-mobile-and-everywhere-else?

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • The bar sucked, and I think most people used it for the chat. However I think they gave up on trying to support it as it kept getting worse until it stopped being improved. It had some glitches, facebook chat didnt work anymore, and my biggest gripe - the app for android blew because it didnt let you log in with the same account, total fail.

  • Has a free version, does ICQ,AIM,GTalk,Facebook,MSN,Yahoo (Yahoo implementation is a little buggy for me, but YMMV), and its own protocol "Bump". The paid version is $5, no ads, Skype support, etc. Both versions do push messaging, simple and clean interface. Highly recommend.

  • IM+ (Score:2)

    by DVega ( 211997 )
    IM+ [google.com] and IM+ Pro [google.com]

  • I'm a meebo user, and this sucks. For various reasons, i pretty much need a web chat client for big chunks of my day.

    I liked meebo because the UI is small and gets out of my way most of the time. eBuddy is big and intrusive, any others?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ace123 ( 758107 )

      I don't think the UI is that much of a problem. Still, I usually use imo.im, since it syncs unread messages with their mobile app.

  • Gibberbot is an XMPP/Jabber client for Android that also supports OTR messaging.

  • A lot of libraries use Meebo chat embedded in their website to provide reference services-particularly because it was free and thus fit their budget. It required nothing extra on the users' end. Now what will they use?

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