OStatic

In the age of Twitter and GoogleTalk, communicating via IRC seems to be going the way of the carrier pigeon. That's too bad because IRC channels -- the original version of modern day chat rooms -- are a great way for groups working remotely (and who isn't these days?) to stay in touch. If you're looking for a terrific open source IRC client for the Mac, you can't do better than Colloquy.

This handy application has all the bells and whistles of any fancy IRC client and is dead simple to use. Installation is a snap and, once complete, you can set up preferences in a multitude of ways. Options include server and channel auto-login, theme selection, chat transcript logging, and various alert settings.

There's a whole section of Colloquy's Web site devoted just to extras like plugins, styles, and emoticons. Some of the extras are useful -- a WikipediaLink, for example -- while others are just for fun, like the Trout Slap.

Colloquy has a strong user community for both users and developers. From wiki pages and FAQs to a robust project management system and several developer sub-groups working on various parts of the app, there's always somewhere to find documentation and support if you need it.

Colloquy's developers have recently introduced a version of the client specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch. It functions the same as its desktop sibling but also includes landscape support and will store received messages even if you're WiFi or EDGE network drops.

IRC has been around for 20 years and with great apps like Colloquy available, it'll hopefully stick around another 20 more.

Have you used Colloquy or another good Mac IRC client?

• irc
• chat
• colloquy