Google chat actually uses Jabber[1]. I believe nothing stops you from using some other Jabber service with GChat. [1]: http://www.jabber.org/ http://www.jabber

Google chat actually uses Jabber[1]. I believe nothing stops you from using some other Jabber service with GChat. [1]: http://www.jabber.org/ http://www.jabber.org/ Now Facebook, of course, is another story. My impression is that they use a technology based on Jabber but not compatible with anything outside of Facebook. I could be wrong--I simply never use Facebook chat.