Today, even though every email site, every social network site has its own chat application embedded within, we still prefer a desktop application, so that we have one universal access to all our friends on all our chats across Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, Gmail, Facebook, etc. And how can we forget Twitter! Now which is THAT application which can combine all of this? Digsby it is! Digsby combines all your email accounts, IM accounts, multiple facebook and twitter accounts!! It also manages your LinkedIn, MySpace, AOL accounts, etc. What better reason do you want to use Digsby! I have been using Digsby for more than a year now and my green pal just getting better! Well, here are the merits and demerits and "possible upgrades" of Digsby:
Merits:
- Brilliant and simple UI for all your IMs
- Can organize and reorganize all the chats and IM accounts, friend lists, etc
- Notifies new mails, can delete or mark them, even without reading!
- Pops the new tweet (with sound) at the corner of your screen, without you even bothering to open twitter!
- Pops all facebook updates (with sound), on which you can comment and "like" immediately just there, without opening the site!
- You can keep account icons in digsby panel, in the task bar or both! :-)
- These are just the basic ones. To know more go the official site of Digsby and its free!
De-Merits:
- For Facebook, it has got a bit-cluttered space
- The Twitter space is cluttered too, but it also has another UI which is the best and most simple! There's only one column for tweets, mentions and directs and you can also see a separate view of them.
- No Keyboard Shortcuts (especially needed for Twitter)
Improvements:
- Keyboard Shortcuts!
- 'Facebook Notification' Alerts (Not just status updates, application updates, other wall updates etc)
- Better and clearer UI for Facebook and LinkedIn. Twitter UI is good... just need a keyboard shortcut (than the double click!)
- Do not re-shorten the already shortened URLs
Why is it better than Seesmic , HootSuite , Sobeez , and the rest?
- For me, desktop clients are better than those on the web! Plus, HootSuite is comparatively much slower than any of these apps. So HootSuite is out of the window!
- I don't want to install two-three applications for various account types. Digsby manages EVERYTHING! Emails, IMs, Twitter, FB and many others!
- Seesmic and Sobeez are very good. I haven't used either of them extensively, however I have tried them once! Both are pretty good for what they have to offer.
- But they only manage Twitter and FB accounts, while digsby manages so many.
- Also, digsby is FASTER than all! The refresh rate is pleasant and whole functioning is smooth! The crude AIR interface of Seesmic Desktop and Sobeez is pretty slow!
- If we only compare the Twitter and Facebook accounts, then Seesmic can be better than Digsby! But as I said, I'm looking at the entire package here.
- Adding and managing of accounts is so simple and fast! All just in one window! No confusing multiple windows!
- Everything from font, to theme, to pop-up sound, to individual screen names are customizable!
These are my views. Its not that I have completely ignored the other apps. I have given a fair chance to all. But ever since I've started using Digsby I've never stopped loving it! Do try out Digsby and tell me what you think.
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