Get MSN into your iChat with Cocoon

September 19, 2011

Apple Inc., Mac

Love it or hate it, MSN Messenger (or Live Messenger) is here to stay for some of us, especially for those of us in Canada and South America. When Americans were off getting their AOL accounts and using them for chat, the rest of us were rocking MSN Messenger accounts, and sadly, a handful of people that I know still use it, which means I can’t cut it out of my workflow just yet.

We’ve seen a few Jabber hacks to get MSN contacts into iChat, but all of them provide headaches that just weren’t worth it for me, but as of now you can use an iChat plugin called Cocoon.

The plugin still has some bugs but on the whole I can chat with those MSN users that refuse to get onto other chat programs (*ahem*Mom*ahem*). It’s a quick and easy install, and works for me in Lion. That being said, we’d recommend taking precautions like you would any other time you install a plugin and back up your stuff first. Just because it worked for me, doesn’t mean that it’ll work flawlessly for you.

Hat tip to Newton Mota for passing this along

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About Joshua Schnell

It started as a hobby and turned into a full-time job for Josh. One minute he was keeping notes on his switch to the Mac and the next thing he knew he was the full time Editor-In-Chief for Macgasm. He spent his early years designing and developing Web sites, but now it's all writing, all the time. Josh also currently contributes to PCWorld. He produces two podcasts, The Macgasm Podcast, and The AppOrchard, and can be heard on CBC Radio once every couple of years, despite secretly wishing that was a more frequent gig.

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This is Lion-only, due to the fact that it uses the new iChat API's introduced in 10.7.  So, this isn't like the plugins we're used to seeing in 10.6's iChat, these are officially sanctioned.  

A few of my friends insist on using it. This is a great app I found earlier today. They're working on fixing the bugs and adding all the required features. As it is, it performs okay. Can't wait for an update though, I've donated my $4 for a license when it's released final version.

Definitely worth it. It installed without a hitch for me.