Instantbird is a new open source, cross platform instant messaging project which is looking to build the Firefox of chat programs. Although Instantbird is built on XULRunner, the stand-alone version of the Firefox engine, the project is not officially affiliated with Mozilla.
The currently release is .1 and meant mainly for developers. Since Instantbird wants to create an add-on ecosystem similar to the one that exists for Firefox and Thunderbird, the developers have released this early and not ready for primetime version for developers to explore.
Already instantbird supports all the common chat protocols — AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo and more (all courtesy of libpurple, which also powers Pidgin). The interface sports tabbed chats, a buddy windows and an account manager, but that's about it. This release doesn't offer any way to customize the application, nor does it support common IM bells and whistles like smileys and customizable interfaces.
Many readers may wonder, with the open source, cross-platform IM client Pidgin already available and quite successful, why or if there's a need for Instantbird. It's a fair question, but glancing at the Instantbird roadmap reveals a couple possible answers: the ability to add networks through plugins (opening up the possibility of Twitter, Pownce or Jaiku clients within your IM app) and XULRunner's powerful web rendering backend.
For the time being, we can't recommend switching to InstantBird, it's extremely barebones and not very stable at the moment, but it's definitely one to keep an eye on. Here's a quick screenshot of Instantbird running on the Mac, not much to see at the moment:
[via Mozilla Links]
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