Chat on MSN using Opera

August 9, 2010 · by Espen André Øverdahl

This excellent tutorial is written by community member darklink88. This guide explains how you can use Opera's built-in chat (IRC) with MSN to stay in touch with your friends and family.

Select Tools > "Mail and Chat Accounts".
Create a New Chat (IRC) account.
Fill in the forms with your name, MSN email adress and your nick.
When you choose a server, use "im.sixxs.net" (the default is OperaNet).
You should now have a tab in Opera with the title "&bitlbee". Select it, and type "register" followed by your password and press Enter.
In the same space write "account add msn" followed by your username and password. For example, "account add msn yourwindowsliveemail yourwindowslivepassword".
Write "account on" and you are ready to talk with your MSN friends using Opera.

In order to use MSN chat you have to use the "im.sixxs.net" server channel and then type "identify" followed by the password you entered in step 5. This is a crucial step. If you've done everything correctly, you can now enjoy chatting via MSN in Opera without annoying images, sounds or animations!

One last thing, you can't send or receive files this way, but as an Opera user you should overcome this problem using Opera Unite.

Readers' comments 23

Left under the original article, as archived.

TamilMonday, August 9, 2010 9:12:09 AM
Artur „Jurgi” JurgawkaMonday, August 9, 2010 9:22:16 AM
I do not use MSN, but it's interesting.
BTW, maybe Opera should have also buided-in IM?
AvolaMonday, August 9, 2010 9:59:17 AM
I didn't get a "&bitlbee" tab, just the room list trying to load unsuccessfully.
Pallab DeMonday, August 9, 2010 10:03:53 AM
Originally posted by Artur „Jurgi” Jurgawka:

BTW, maybe Opera should have also buided-in IM?

I believe that Opera used to bundle an IM client. However, they stopped as it turned into a cat and mouse game with the service provider continuously updating their protocol to kick unofficial clients.
praetor87Monday, August 9, 2010 10:12:05 AM
i saw in the past another guy with bitlebee on Opera irc (on another myopera blog). Its safer way to chat with friends, but it often close the connection and dont send the unicode characters.
+ I talk about this: http://www.my.opera.com/nicomen/blog/show.dml/175550 I love it, and as you can see it's not just for MSN (Pidgin uses Bitlebee too)!!
Oh, and one more thing! You should use the servers from the official bitlebee site, because everybody can have a client for this, but im.sixxs.net looks like safe to work.
YongShunMonday, August 9, 2010 11:09:39 AM
Nice.

If file transferring is enabled somehow through Unite (easy click), it will be awesome!
dapxinMonday, August 9, 2010 11:21:37 AM
9ice but I am yet to get it work...
edit

got it working, but how do I get a listing of friends ?
Mağruf ÇolakoğluMonday, August 9, 2010 11:22:17 AM
Good but not so usefull.
For example if you have more contact, how will you list of them. Becouse my contact list so much and now 20-25 online but only 1 is showing

Do you know IRC code for it? Bacouse below commands don't do it

zahek help commands
root * account - IM-account list maintenance
root * chat - Chatroom list maintenance
root * add - Add a buddy to your contact list
root * info - Request user information
root * remove - Remove a buddy from your contact list
root * block - Block someone
root * allow - Unblock someone
root * set - Miscellaneous settings
root * help - BitlBee help system
root * save - Save your account data
root * rename - Rename (renick) a buddy
root * yes - Accept a request
root * no - Deny a request
root * qlist - List all the unanswered questions root asked
root * register - Register yourself
root * identify - Identify yourself with your password
root * drop - Drop your account
root * blist - List all the buddies in your contact list
root * nick - Change friendly name, nick
Tandder LimaMonday, August 9, 2010 12:35:34 PM
WOW!
Charles SchlossMonday, August 9, 2010 1:33:13 PM
ZephirineMonday, August 9, 2010 1:37:54 PM
http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Happy.gif -
OğuzMonday, August 9, 2010 3:00:33 PM
amazing what I was looking forward
AngelikiMonday, August 9, 2010 5:09:13 PM
RobsonMonday, August 9, 2010 5:26:04 PM
WoW!!!
The best browser ever!!!
Nexus009Monday, August 9, 2010 9:48:26 PM
Cutting SpoonMonday, August 9, 2010 10:23:27 PM
There is in fact a service called "Messenger" in Unite, last time I checked.

Although, why isn't "The Lounge" being bundled anymore? Seems to work just fine.
₣ıđø Ðıđø™Tuesday, August 10, 2010 2:22:53 AM
wonderful
d4rkn1ghtTuesday, August 10, 2010 3:41:48 AM
ianSaturday, August 21, 2010 10:35:18 AM
is it safe
hundredorzeroSunday, August 22, 2010 9:09:33 PM
is it safe? who's the owner of im.sixxs.net?
DanieleFriday, September 10, 2010 1:54:34 AM
Originally posted by hundredorzero:

is it safe? who's the owner of im.sixxs.net?

http://im.sixxs.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitlBee
hundredorzeroFriday, September 10, 2010 12:04:44 PM
Originally posted by darklink88:

http://im.sixxs.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitlBee

yeah. but it doesn't prove that it's safe.

gateway is safe, but what about the person who operates the irc channel?

pop3 and imap may be safe, but phishing scammers also use that gateway.
Sami SerolaFriday, October 15, 2010 8:36:10 AM
Strange... I managed to make it work but every time I write something the root complains something like:

Nick `wow' does not exist!
Unknown command: although. Please use help commands to get a list of available commands.

So, should I always start sentence is some particular way when I just want to talk