Usability and performance

Are these programs fun and, more importantly, easy to use?

An instant messaging app lives to help you communicate with your contacts. The tools in this Roundup can do that, but also allow for audio and video calls. But anyone who’s used desktop apps over the past decade can attest to the fact that the more features you add, the more likely you’ll end up with a cluttered interface. Some of the tools on our list have their own protocols and can’t work with other clients. This means that your friends and contacts will also have to switch to the same program. It’s one thing to ask your contacts to register on a new service, but they’re unlike to use a tool that’s difficult to navigate or is a drain on the system resources. We’ll also be looking at how the different tools perform some of the additional functions like transferring files.