I am fan of Jabber, or maybe XMPP, which as far as I can tell is the same thing. From that you should take this not as a message of technical evangelism, rather, a proposal/question.
How do I get you to use Jabber?
E-mail is dead. Or it might as well be. I am not saying it doesn’t have its uses. I just don’t like it. The thing is, the transition to having an IM client open all the time, as opposed to e-mail, is tough for lots of folks. I understand that. I guess. Okay, never mind, that is just weak sauce.
Modern machines can easily handle an e-mail client and an IM client. Not a problem. So what is it? Change? Something new to learn? Anti-social tendencies?
Regardless of your excuse, this is where we are going, the cool kids on the web. Get yourself a non-proprietary IM account. Leave a comment and I will give you one. Or go to jabber.org. Or hell, get a Gmail account even. I am not sure if this is going to last, but it sure the hell is beating e-mail into submission, for those of us smart enough to catch on.
And in case anyone is wondering, my ID is maiki@im.interi.org maiki@cog.im.
Everyone is doing it. For the greater good!