There was a time when instant messengers were a few hundred KB per client, and there weren’t too many. Today, there are three major chat clients—MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk—and while Google Talk is small enough right now, it’s only a matter of time before it bloats into the 20mb package that the other two are almost competing to reach. If you’re done with all the stupid extras like IMvironments and Winks, and all you want to do is chat, then consider using a web-based messenger that works purely in your web browser, without needing any download or installation.

Alternatively, if your office doesn’t let you install messengers and/or chat during work hours, then you probably shouldn’t do so, but if you still feel the insatiable urge to do so, these web-based messengers are here for your aid. Some of these are popular and may already be blocked by your sysadmins, but there are some new ones here. You’d just better hope your sysadmins don’t visit Tech2.com too often!

Meebo
Meebo is simply the best web-based instant messenger I have ever used. Not only does it look clean, polished and very true Windows application-like, it also behaves exactly like one, courtesy of some really detailed JavaScript, XHTML and CSS. It also makes full use of AJAX, so it never feels like a website. Meebo is a perfect example of Web 2.0 and is the benchmark for all competing services. It runs inside just one browser window or tab, spawning multiple DIV-based conversation windows that don’t take up any extra taskbar space or memory, but you can pop a window out of the browser if you want to. The only problem with Meebo is that its interface looks exactly like some of the older, cleaner versions of Yahoo! Messenger and it doesn’t change even when you’re connected to MSN/Windows Live Messenger or something else.

Meebo lets you connect to MSN/Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and also Jabber. Meebo also has a universal Meebo login option which saves all your account passwords, so you don’t have to enter four or five passwords every time you visit the site. Passwords are encrypted before sending them to the servers for logging in.

eBuddy
Formerly called e-Messenger, eBuddy was one of the first web-based messengers online. Consequently, it hasn’t changed much – it still uses regular old school HTML frames, tables and page refreshes. It doesn’t run in a single window, instead, using popups for contact lists as well as conversations.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, it makes you sign in to each messenger service separately, popping up a window for each service. There’s no universal login concept on eBuddy, which means you’ll have to type in five logins and passwords everytime you want to go online and chat.

eBuddy does MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger, all in both classic as well as There is no Google Talk, Jabber or ICQ support here – not that anybody still uses ICQ.

eBuddy does redeem itself by offering a mobile-friendly service accessible on mob.ebuddy.com.