Alternative to Microsoft Messenger supporting webcams

aMSN is an alternative to Messenger for Mac 7.0, with more features yet a more slimline interface.

Most importantly, it supports video although please be aware that in this latest release, due to a change by Microsoft in the way Messenger handles AV protocols, this latest release of aMSN does not support video or audio clips at the moment although the developers hope to resolve this soon. It should also be noted that the latest release of Microsoft Messenger for Mac does now support audio and video.

aMSN’s chat client looks very similar to Microsoft’s product yet differs on a number of points. aMSN’s developers have delved into the preferences menu, adding extra little features like event alerts and sounds, conferencing support or autoaway messages. Like with MSN Messenger you’ll be able to transfer files and organize all your contacts into groups on aMSN.

The big draw of aMSN however is webcam and audio clips support. You had to be a corporate user of MSN Messenger for Mac 7.0 to use webcams but aMSN allows you to do so for free. Starting a webcam is easy (simply by clicking on the webcam button in a chat dialog) although there is no real time audio yet. However, you can record audio clips to send to contacts. Read more about this feature on our OnSoftware blog here.

One of the biggest pet peeves of users with aMSN is the interface. It simply doesn’t compare with more sleeker, more recent IM clients. In the developer’s defense though you can download all sorts of skins from the program’s website. Similarly it offers up a range of plugins, to customize your client to your liking. Chat addicts will also appreciate the animated emoticons on hand.

In a few words, aMSN is a good alternative to MSN for users looking to add more plugins, skins and delve into the preferences menu.

New Contact List !! We can drag contacts between groups New login window Added support for Offline Messages Voice clips : sending and receiving ! New default skin + new smiley set DualDisplayPicture plugin into the core Add Audio and Video Assistant support for JPEG webcams support for UYVY palette fix bug with PWC driver Only for amsn-remote,fixed possible DoS attack, and make remote not reply to commands when it’s not enabled, instead of waiting for authentication and parsing commands, which may lead to parse errors. Fix bugs with DP browser Added new bindings to manage tabs Show Web/Online for people using webmessenger added tkdnd for windows, Fix smileys menu issues Fix file transfert bugs but some still remains Fix bugs with chameleon Improve linflash Fix to the first libmimic bug ever, in 2 years Fix bug with http proxies

Changes

• New Contact List !! We can drag contacts between groups New login window Added support for Offline Messages Voice clips : sending and receiving ! New default skin + new smiley set DualDisplayPicture plugin into the core Add Audio and Video Assistant support for JPEG webcams support for UYVY palette fix bug with PWC driver Only for amsn-remote,fixed possible DoS attack, and make remote not reply to commands when it’s not enabled, instead of waiting for authentication and parsing commands, which may lead to parse errors. Fix bugs with DP browser Added new bindings to manage tabs Show Web/Online for people using webmessenger added tkdnd for windows, Fix smileys menu issues Fix file transfert bugs but some still remains Fix bugs with chameleon Improve linflash Fix to the first libmimic bug ever, in 2 years Fix bug with http proxies