User:Bobbber1975/Bristow instant messenger

Background
Bristow Instant Messenger (or BristowIM) is a Jabber/XMPP chat client written in Java. Early in 2009, a colleague of BristowIM creator Rob Cridland, was infuriated by the multitude of chat clients available which either lacked functionality or failed to work consistently in a manner fitting established software.

A challenge was set - to create an instant messaging client which was simple to use, provided an attractive client, allowed most basic IM functions and was stable from the start. From this challenge, Bristow Instant Messenger was born.

Development
Development began in May 2009, based upon Sun's Java Netbeans IDE and the stable Smack API's used for Jabber/XMPP interfacing. From this start, first messages were sent between this new client and PiginIM in August 2009 - between the creator, Rob Cridland, and the challenger, Andy Snook. Initial tests proved BristowIM's reliability and the ease of use was shown in early September when the first Alpha client was made available to popular acclaim.