The folks at 2Entwine have released v1.1 of Gush, with a long list of new features, in particular support for gateways to connect with AIM, Yahoo, and MSN, presence notifications, and improved RSS support in the included blog reader. I reviewed an earlier version a few months back (see Gushing for Gush).

I have shifted over to testing Gush v1.1 extensively, and I have imported AIM, and MSN contacts into the client -- aside from a few small confusions, it seems to work (although the AIM nicknames got scrambled somehow, and I had to rekey them). Like Trillian, Gush now can serve as a single client, linking to all the networks, plus Jabber, which is the native protocol.

I really like the notifications panel (look right), which is a window that hovers within the app's desktop, and indicates your buddies comings and goings.

The RSS reader has been drastically extended, and supports thumbnails and full size photos from RSS feeds. Really awesome.

Like I said in the earlier article, I would like everyone to download this client. The ability to create 'announcements' for the various groups on your buddy list is a real breakthrough. With the integration with AIM, Yahoo, and MSN, as well as external Jabber accounts, Gush supports broadcasting of those announcements -- a feature that I like, but which I learned about the hard way last week. I thought I was sending an announcement to Gush users, but my entire AIM contact list learned about my plnas for a West Coast trip. No sweat, and I like the ability to broadcast to a group -- no matter what service they are on! However, to be able to browse the announcements as if they were blog entires, you need a Gush client, and I guess, a Gush login id.

Get one, and send your contact info along to me. I am trying to develop a buddy list for Get Real readers, and user that as a means of keeping in the loop with you'all... better than email, for sure. And Gush -- while habit forming -- is still free.