Instant Messengers are a commonplace on most computers connected to the internet, talking to people from miles and miles away is something that we as people seem to really enjoy. There are many different messengers that are downloadable from the internet, there are quite a few that are incredibly popular, so most people have more than one installed on their computer, but running too many at a time will limit your computer's resources, so what's a person to do? That's where Odigo comes in, with Odigo people can chat on AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and ICQ using one program to connect to each of these chat services, that's right, only ONE program, this really cuts down on your system resources.

Odigo is not a very large download considering the circumstances, it is only about 3mb and should not take long depending on your internet connection, but if you chose to download the extra plug-ins it will take longer. After downloading and installing Odigo you are prompted to choose a username and a password, much like other instant messengers. After filling out your personal info you must choose which accounts you would like Odigo to recognize and log on to, this is fairly simple and just takes common sense, but if you wish to load your buddy lists from AIM and ICQ onto Odigo you must do it manually, but Odigo automatically loads your MSN and Yahoo friend lists.

Odigo manages your buddy lists in one easy interface, everything appears in a small scrollable window, much like in the programs AIM and Yahoo Messenger. The default skin is a little glum, it just contains several different shades of blue, but you have the ability to download other skins if you would like to customize the appearance. Upon uploading your buddy lists you can select which group you would like each buddy to appear in, you can create multiple groups, or you could simply keep every buddy icon in the default "friends" group, you can put any buddy in any group regardless of their chat medium.

With Odigo, users have the ability to change font colors and sizes, as with most instant messengers. This could be improved on Odigo though, as chatters not on Odigo will recieve your messages without any font you may have set, this basically makes changing the font useless, well unless you are chatting with other Odigo users. Odigo does have room for updates, as in the future you may be able to download plugins to enhance your experience with Odigo.

Odigo isn't just about being able to log on to multiple Instant Messengers, as it has a very comprehensive default chat system. Odigo takes much of what is great about everything, and uses it in it's own messenger system, you can search for other Odigo users based on their zodiac sign, gender, location, age, interests and much more. This is a very nice feature, as this user search allows for you to find other Odigo users that you share interests with, or just the kind of people you would like to meet. When online, I usually average meeting about 5 new people that used the search and came up with my screen name every hour or so. Odigo also has a useful message archive feature, so you can view and save conversations that you have had on Odigo.

Besides being able to search for people based on their personal information, you can also turn on a feature that lets you know when other Odigo users are surfing the same website as you. Usually well known websites will have thousands of Odigo users browsing them, so it's pretty easy to meet people using this feature. It sometimes gets pretty annoying though, everytime Odigo looks for users on a site it will make a certain chime, to let you know that it is searching, but thankfully you can turn this feature off.

Every messenger service I've ever used has a way to view personal information that a user has input into their profile, but Odigo takes this a step further. Odigo will give any Odigo user access to data that you have put into your profile, you choose what you want people to be able to see. On top of the standard information on a profile page, you can choose a mood that people will see, these moods are represented by a picture in your profile, there are quite a few moods like Flirtatous, Happy, Mad, Sad and so on, but while chatting with a user you can select an intention towards that person, these intentions include "friends" and "flirting" and stuff like that, it's a nice concept.

Y! Messenger Compatibility
Sadly this is the one messenger that Odigo doesn't emulate too well, recieved messages are sometimes missing particular letters, messages sometimes take a little longer to recieve, and Odigo is missing a couple of features that Yahoo Messenger incorporates. Connectability is good, and you aren't kicked off too often, so it does have some good points.

MSN Messenger Compatibility
In my version of Odigo you are required to download a plug-in to log on to MSN messenger service. I haven't used this too much, but from what I've collected the connection is much like that of Odigo's Yahoo messenger feature. No serious errors, but some features are missing from odigo that were present in MSN messenger.

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) Compatibility
The only real hassle with using an AIM account on Odigo is the fact that you have to manually copy your buddy list onto Odigo. Connectability is decent, no really noticeable problems, and is pretty dependable. Like everything else it still lacks a couple features that makes the original program stand out.

ICQ Compatibility
Personally I hate the program ICQ, it takes up a lot of resources and just isn't for me, but you can upload your buddy list and account on to Odigo. I believe that Odigo takes up less system resources than the ICQ messenger, so importing and using your ICQ account on Odigo uses less memory, definitly a good thing. Like AIM you must manually load your buddy list on to Odigo, but Odigo doesn't have many of the features from ICQ, which isn't that bad for me because I don't exactly like any of the extras found in ICQ.

Final Comments
I urge you to give this nifty little program a try, even if you just want to try it for a day. The download is free, and you can get this program at www.odigo.com so if you use Yahoo messenger, ICQ, AIM, and MSN then this program is for you. Even after uploading account information for any of the chat services you can select which messengers you would like Odigo to connect to, this is very nice for those of you that may not want to connect to all 4 messengers everytime. This program offers a nice way to meet people online, and can be used by just about everyone, you don't need to be a computer wizard to master this program, it just takes common sense.

Recommended: Yes