General Information
Our Jabber server is part of an instant messaging ["IM"] network which offers functionality similar to legacy IM services such as AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. Additional information about Jabber may be found here. Wikipedia also has an informative Jabber introduction.
To use our Jabber server, you will need a Jabber client. Jabber clients are available for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, MacOS, PalmOS, PocketPC, Java and many cell phones. A list of Jabber clients available for download may be found here. If you are away from your computer or prefer not to install a Jabber client, you may use one of our web-based Jabber client.
Our Jabber Server
Our Jabber messaging server is located at jabber.quinns.net. We use the standard port: 5222. You may select any available user name when setting up your Jabber account. Your Jabber user name need not be the same as your email account user name. User names on our Jabber server are in the format your_username@jabber.quinns.net. It is not necessary to configure your Jabber client to use SSL encryption on our server.
Our Jabber server also supports conference or group chat sessions which permit users to simultaneously chat with multiple other users. Our group chat server is located at conference.jabber.quinns.net.
Using Jabber With Other IM Networks
Jabber servers may be configured either to permit communication only between clients connected to a particular Jabber server or to permit communication between clients connected to any Jabber server on the Internet. We have configured our Jabber server to allow communication with any client of any other Jabber server worldwide.
Jabber servers may also be configured, via IM gateways, to permit communication with other IM networks such as ICQ, MSN and AIM. We have not implemented this feature at this time. However, many IM clients may be configured to send messages to users of Jabber and other IM networks simultaneously. In addition, when connected to our Jabber server, many other public Jabber servers are available to act as your gateway to your other IM services. You should use caution when utilizing other IM gateway servers, as the remote gateway server may store your IM account (i.e. Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, ICQ) user name and password in order to act as your gateway to that service.
