Got Wills

I just came across Psi today while trying to find a way to sign out a session of Google Talk running on my home computer (I was at work). My wife was sending me messages and I was only getting some of them, it was really getting annoying. Anyway, it turns out the feature is not yet available in the Google Talk client, but I saw Psi in the available clients on the Google Talk page… and I hadn’t seen it before.

Psi is a free instant messaging application designed for the Jabber IM network including Google Talk. Fast and lightweight, Psi is fully open-source and compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

I was browsing the site and noticed a lot of features that looked great to me (I’m sort of a feature hound… even for features I’ll never use). Encryption, multi-user chats, and remote client control… could it really be, the exact feature I’m looking for?

Always-on security

Using the same SSL technology that makes it possible for you to safely shop on the web, Psi automatically encrypts its communication with compatible IM servers to provide a secure connection over untrusted networks like public WiFi access points. For advanced security needs, Psi can also encrypt messages end-to-end with OpenPGP.

Leading the way

Psi’s developers are actively involved in the Jabber community, working hard to ensure that Psi fully supports the standards for features like avatars, multi-user chats (with full admin control), remote client control, and more. It’s standards like these that allow people to communicate smoothly with each other on the Jabber network, and Psi ensures that you’ll never miss a beat.

There’s a couple of things I miss from Google Talk, I like the chat display more, being able to search contacts, and having the email button right in the chat window. However, the remote client control makes it worth the switch by itself, not to mention all of the other features built into Psi (adjustable auto away, auto offline, and connect through proxy). To enable remote client control, you’ll need to check the little box in the advanced page of the options.

You can also make it portable (not a huge deal, since all you need to do is log into your inbox in GTalk to do the same thing, but it will give you remote client control).

When searching for the remote sign out for the Google Talk client, I saw quite a few forum posts from people who wanted this feature and were switching to other messaging platforms because of the missed messages and such. I wanted to let everybody know about this great product.

Way to go Psi Team.