Best way to voice-chat and instant-messaging between OS X and Windows?

Here is the thing, my girlfriend got her Acer TimeLineX 4820TG with Windows7 Enterprise 64-bit and I've got my MacBook Pro 17" Mid-2010 running Snow Leopard and we have been using Live Messenger for Windows to communicate and having visual appearance between each other ever since we got to know each other.. So every evening we spend apart from each other we chat using instant messaging and are having webcam running for visual appearance.

This has never been a problem before as I have normally been running Windows7 on my notebook and then we have both been using Live Messenger which works flawlessly for exactly this purpose. But now that I've started using MacBook Pro all the time instead of my other notebook we are facing a major problem with the whole Live Messenger protocol and the whole downside with me being forced to use MSN Messenger 8 for Mac as the ONLY way to have webcam going over the live messenger protocol between Windows and Mac OS X. So I'm forced to use Microsofts own MSN Messenger 8 for Mac in order to get webcam working with my girlfriend and her hotmail account (Live Messenger 2011). Running applications like Audium does NOT support webcam communication with Live ID users (aka over the Live Messenger protocol).


The issue I'm facing with this is the bare fact that MSN Messenger 8 for Mac is a complete joke.. I have yet to use such a buggy software for ages. It's simply horrible to use, not even the most basic and common emoticons gets displayed with anything other than a blue question mark! Not to mention the webcam video is tiny and when running webcam overnight the entire applications idles out and disconnects you even when running an active webcam link with another person? And lets not start with the whole design and layout of this application. It's simply dreadful and is nowhere near being close to what even MSN Messenger 7.0 for Windows was like back in 2005?!



Therefore we have decided to find our own personal solution for communicating between each other. So we want a solid, stable and high-quality solution where we can see each other by using webcam and communicate through text-based instant messaging between each other one being on Snow Leopard and the other being on Windows7. Which solution would fit this purpose best?

 

Have you thought about using Skype? When my wife was in Mississippi for 6 weeks last year we used Skype often to chat (she on Windows 7 and I on OS X)

 

Google Talk via the Gmail website is very, very easy.

 

My vote goes towards Skype as well. It supports IM, voice chat, and video chat across multiple platforms. I can have Skype running on my MacBook Pro under OS X and communicate with someone on their Android smartphone. There is also Google Talk but I don't think it is as fleshed out as Skype.

 

Skype Skype #1!!!!

 

Yeah, we use skype with my family since we (I) have so many systems and OS's.

Works great and I like being able to make a call to a land line (or cell) in other countries for CHEAP

D.

 

You can call 1-800 numbers for free!

 

if you are counting platforms it works with, skype may win. skype runs on all sorts of devices. free to call other skype users.

 

Skype logical choice for most.

Mumble I bet is higher quality and lower latency though and is cross platform (Windows, OSX, Linux) however the thing with mumble is you need a server unlike Skype where you can simply install and use.

You can always use a free public server for mumble just to talk a bit though, when my server was public people would at random come in to use it.

But if quality is your goal Mumble > All VoIP its like talking to somebody in person.

Skype also has video another bonus and the main reason I would use it. Mumble has that on the way though lol (just video avatar so you can see your teammates faces on the in-game overlay or the client)

 

Now that Microsoft has bought Skype, lets hope it stays a decent service and doesn't become something else...

 

Well up until yesterday I was gonna recommend Skype, but now that Microsoft has bought them there will be no more Mac client. Watch how Mac support will tank as time goes by until there will be no more support for iOS or Mac. Thanks MS.

 

Microsoft won't change much and continue to release OS X, iOS, and Android Skype clients if they were smart. So things may not change with the recent developments. The whole procedure isn't going through until the end of the year so things will be business as usual until 2012.

 

Hopefully Apple will take this opportunity to expand FaceTime to Windows, Xbox, Android, and more... but I doubt they will.

 

I doubt Apple would ever release anything for Android but they could very well release a Windows FaceTime client (which would silence most of the complaints). After all, Safari made its way to Windows for no apparent reason and there would actually be logic behind a Windows FaceTime release.

 

I am not too worried about the MS purchase of skype.

They are mainly doing it so that they can add skype to Win8, Xbox etc..

Now, I may be in for a rude awakening come this time next year, but until then I am going to keep my head in the sand (I keeeed I keeeeed)

D.

 

No kidding. I used to think that nothing much could rival the ruin of a government takeover of a private establishment. Microsoft is certainly a close second.

 

Windows phone ecosystem has taken a great leap forward with the acquisition of skype. However i believe that MS will not axe Skype for mac as there are customers on many platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Symbian etc) who are paying for the premium services of this software. Also these premium services generate a lot of profit and MS would surely never end support on other platforms and risk losing precious customers. I hear only a Microsoft-Skype department is being created in Skype HQ.

 

Given Apple's past track record, I don't expect much if they even do release anything for Windows. With MS purchasing Skype, while Mac support won't be discontinued, it won't really flourish either since MS will not add much if any additional support for those users, while upgrading the quality for MS products is definitely happening.

 

Why the hate for Microsoft? Not all of their products are horrible. I shudder to think of a world where MS and Google disappear and Apple is left without any competitors.

 

another vote for skype