Centre for Distance Education

Synchronous Methods

The text-based conferencing products reviewed on this site are all freeware.

This evaluation summary was last updated in December, 2001.

PRODUCT	AOL Messenger	Excite	MSN Messenger	Sonork	Tourbar	Yahoo Messenger
Basic user features recommended in distance education
Startup options available	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Ignore/ block users	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Allow/ disallow users not on my address list to make contact	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Create a chat room (i.e. multi-way conferencing)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Find other chat users	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ignore chat invitations	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Archiving (instant messages/ alerts/ conferences)	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Guided web tour feature	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Other useful features, not essential in distance education
Log in anonymously or with variable ID	No	No	With MSN passport	Yes	No	Yes
Display user profile	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Accept chat messages from users not on your address list	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Webcam integration	No	No	No	N/A	No	Yes
Display message when users join/ leave a chat or sign on/off	Yes?	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Track other chat rooms	N/A	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Audio chat alerts and other signals	Yes	Some	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Send and receive files	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Virus check on download	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Alert on receiving new messages	Yes	No	N/A	Yes	No	Yes
Change theme and font colours, and override others’ colours	Yes	Some	Some	Some	No	Yes
Filter offensive words	No	Yes	No (G-rated chat)	No	No	No
Integration with online audio	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
PRODUCT	AOL Messenger	Excite	MSN Messenger	Sonork	Tourbar	Yahoo Messenger

CDE - Last Updated by MM August 09, 2010