Flash back with us to the year 2001. Instant messaging had grown exponentially over the past eight years, from a college campus "toy" to a worldwide business-tool phenomenon. We had used them all, and while many were nice, none were exceptional. Trillian became a huge success very quickly in late 2001, allowing people to manage all of their IM names in one program, but even that had problems. In early 2002, after weeks of connection battles between AOL and Trillian, we'd had enough (being denied access for days in a row just didn't cut it). We wanted to create an IM service that had the best of the best, and could stay up and running without relying on anyone else's networks. We believed it was only a matter of time before other IM networks would disallow connections from Trillian, and connectivity problems still arise today when using Trillian or other "3rd-party" clients.

From prototype to first release

After being conceived on February 17, 2002, the first "new IM" client-to-client message was exchanged exactly a week later using a Perl client and a Perl server. This was the proof of concept that we needed. Just a month later, we had a functional client and server, and began to welcome our first users. The new service, soon to be known as BitWise Chat, was sparse in features, but large in spirit, and many people saw the potential of getting away from the ads, clutter and code bloat everywhere else. Many of those early users are still with us today.

The first months of service found us scrambling to add the most requested features. File transfers were quickly added, and to this day remain one of BitWise's best and most popular features. The user interface was steadily improved, and the promise of BitWise was becoming realized. Our commitment to providing direct user-to-user connections never faltered, and as time went on, we realized that we needed to take a chance and rewrite those precious connections to make them fully encrypted.

Through the first year

Before its first anniversary, BitWise went through a tremendous overhaul, and on December 8th, 2002, a completely revamped service was released, offering security and privacy through automatic encryption of all messages and file transfers. That version, 0.2.0, was instantly recognized as a huge success, and ushered in a new era of growth for BitWise. Ironically, those other instant messaging services that we were originally catching up to were now catching up to us.

As BitWise rounded its first anniversary in February 2003, we celebrated the success that BitWise had already become. Not ones to rest on our laurels, we continued adding more features to BitWise, all while keeping the client clutter-free. It was at this time that our next revolution was conceived: a completely cross-platform, cross-functional instant messenger that would run natively on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. This was certainly something that was yet to be done, and having already pioneered several features unavailable anywhere else, it was a logical next step. To this day, this effort has not been duplicated by anyone else.

To begin this cross-platform undertaking, we knew that a complete rewrite of the client was necessary. The bigger question was, however, what software technology to use. After extensive research, we decided that the wxWidgets library was the right choice. It took the better part of a year, but after many alpha versions and a huge testing efforts by many in the BitWise community, BitWise was ready to make another big leap.

Cross-platform secure IM becomes a reality

On December 10th, 2003, BitWise 0.9.8.0 was released, paving the way to a Version 1 release on March 2nd, 2004, giving BitWise the distinction of being the first secure cross-platform instant messenger. Complete with file sharing, a URL history, event logging, an amazingly intuitive and powerful "tabbed" conversation interface, whiteboards, unicode support, simultaneous logins, online Web Services, and even more preferences, BitWise left the competition in the dust. Still today, whether you use Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X, all of the BitWise features work on all platforms. Even file transfers, often a source of great frustration for IM users, work seamlessly between platforms.

Relentless pursuit of perfection

The Version 1 "release it and forget it" problem was not felt with BitWise; after Version 1, improvements to the features and interface made BitWise the most easy to use and most fully functional instant messenger to date. Several major features were added, including a powerful log viewer, XML logging, more file sharing options (including auto-resume), whiteboard enhancements, consolidated and easier to understand preferences, and significant Mac and Linux UI improvements that turned BitWise from an ugly duckling into beautiful swan on both platforms. The interface was steadily improved and minor bugs quickly fixed, making each version of BitWise another small revolution in features, usability and stability. You never stop wanting the best (reading the forums is solid proof!), and neither does BitWise.

Cross-platform voice chat

As BitWise continued to firmly establish itself on all three major platforms, cross-platform voice over IP (VOIP) and video chat became frequently requested features. In August 2004, BitWise offered the first alpha release with cross-platform voice chat, becoming the first encrypted cross-platform direct-to-IP voice communication software available. Released on September 30th, 2004, BitWise 1.0.3 officially blazed into the VOIP market with a solution that offers absolute minimum lag (you don't get more direct than direct) and superior voice quality that easily surpasses the telephone (on broadband). Even with such powerful functionality, BitWise remains free for personal use and still has no ads, spam or spyware.

The BitWise web site gets a face lift

By the end of 2004, it was clear that the BitWise web site was looking and feeling dated. While the previous site, designed in August 2003, had been a tremendous improvement over its predecessor, it was again time for a fresh outlook on BitWise's continuously expanding services. On May 1st, 2005, the new site was unveiled after months of design, re-design, planning, and testing, along with a change of name to BitWise IM. The revamped navigation focused on common user tasks and consolidated areas that had been duplicated on the previous site. With its new fresh look, the BitWise web site was more appealing, easier to navigate, and more fun to use than even before, all while retaining its great content. Of course, it's still the place to download the best secure, cross-platform instant messenger.

BitWise Plus adds identity management and stronger encryption

Since 2002, BitWise has added privacy to IM conversations worldwide using automatic encryption. On October 11th, 2005, the release of BitWise 1.0.6 debuted BitWise Plus, a new level of service for those wanting to establish their online identity using their own encryption keys. By creating an RSA keypair that represents you, your contacts can know whether or not they are really speaking to you, or to an imposter. BitWise Plus also bumped the encryption strength to 1024-bit RSA and 256-bit Blowfish. These and other enhancements can be added to any username for a one-time fee of only $25, or are included free with BitWise Professional. Best of all, there's no two-way requirement like with other "premium" IM services; your contacts don't have to be Plus members to use your higher encryption capabilities or use your personal RSA public key.

Our crystal ball

With so many unique and exciting features, we know that BitWise can only continue to grow. The best part is: there's still much more to come. There are more revolutionary new features in the works, from advanced conferencing to "ghosting" (sharing a login between two PCs) to video chat. We are also investigating new connection methods that will greatly reduce the need to manually configure routers. No matter how you look at it, BitWise really is a wise bit of software.