I'm a fan of stuff "just working". Often we don't realise we're working with sub-optimal tools until something better comes along. My venture, msgpad, is hoping to make chat easier and more intuative than ever before. I'm not looking to create "yet another chat tool". I want to change the way we think of chat.
The problem with chat right now is that you have a heap of ways to communicate and each way has their good and bad points. Everyone has an email address, but you can't communicate in real time. Instant messaging is real time, but you can't communicate to groups easily. IRC is too hardcore.
If you want to help me change the way people chat by beta testing msgpad, then "please register your interest here":http://msgpad.com.