Exodus is a social and communication freeware originally created by Peter Millard and continued by Jabber Inc. The open source freeware hosts free chat and instant messaging service while keeping the source code open.

Background of the Chat Client Project

Peter Millard was the original creator of Exodus. He has been a known contributor to the community of Jabber/XMPP developers. The original plan for developing Exodus was to replace Winjab, an early Jabber-developed client. Millard showed his expertise on Jabber as the Exodus codebase has optimal structure, at the same time coding a future-proof and adaptive chat client. His freeware was left incomplete after his untimely death on April 26, 2006, due to complications from cancer. His colleagues from Jabber Inc., fortunately, continued on developing the freeware as well as continued on adding improvement to Exodus. They have been giving ongoing releases of Exodus to everyone in the open source developer community.

Alternate Instant Messenger Platform

Exodus features vast improvements compared to Winjab. It has an enhanced user interface, consumes fewer system resources, faster processing and easy to use. One of the most noticeable features of this freeware is that it has a very dated interface similar to older operating systems. The aesthetics can be distracting, what matters is the capabilities. Users must first set up their Exodus account before starting on chatting. This freeware is also ideal for those who want to secure their identity from marketing companies who consistently advertise products and services. The freeware requires Secure Sockets Layer Dynamic Link Library (SSL DLL) to enable the SSL Connection feature. The certificate for SSL must be also allowed to fully use the freeware. Users are free to contribute for the coding of Exodus, as well as interact with the Jabber developers and the open source community. The source code is already available for viewing and copying.

Escaping the Proprietary IM Platforms

Exodus is designed to be a freeware capable of hosting instant messaging not only for the open source community but also for those who demand free communication service. Users who are concerned about their privacy can still enjoy instant messaging without the ads.