Meebo, the web-based, multi-protocol, instant messaging service has announced a new Firefox add-on that allows you to automatically sign in and connect whenever you launch Firefox. Coupled with the recently launched iPhone version, Meebo is starting to look like a compelling use-anywhere IM client.
Unfortunately the Firefox extension isn't quite as useful as you might be thinking. The new extension automates the sign-in process, offers a sidebar contacts list and a toolbar notifications system, but you'll still need to keep Meebo open in a browser tab since you can't actually chat through the new add-on.
A far better idea would have been to encapsulate all the functionality of the main site into the add-on. In other words, a sidebar that automatically logs into your Meebo account and then gets out of the way until you have a chat session. At that point it would be nice to chat in the sidebar and continue using your browser as you normally would. But that's currently not possible, making this extension less than ideal.
In fact, unless you really need notifications in your toolbar, there's no advantage to using Meebo's Firefox offering.
Hopefully, Meebo will continue to develop the add-on because it has enormous potential — I for one would love to abandon my desktop IM client for something Firefox-based — but this limited offering isn't going to change how you use Meebo.
[via Mashable]
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