Mashable is reporting that IM service Meebo has come out of alpha status and is now, apparently, a stable service.

Unlike other IM services, Meebo is a web-based tool that allows you to connect to other popular IM networks, it doesn’t have it’s own. It supports AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk and MSN/Windows Live Messenger.

What’s interesting about Meebo is that the interface is almost like a virtual ‘desktop’ where the screens within the Meebo interface are placed inside fake windows which can be moved around. It certainly is a much richer experience than a lot of other web-based IM services.

New in this version is internationalisation, a new interface style and a new ‘pop-out’ option on the Meebo’s fake windows which makes them expand into real popup windows so you can use Meebo a bit more like a desktop IM client. There are also a few other minor new features, and of course, the 1.0 milestone means that Meebo should now be stable!

There still are a few concerns however with using web-based IM. At the moment, hardly any of the major IM networks allow you to run clients which aren’t approved. That means that for a long time, multi-network IM clients have been breaking this rule, and occasionally stop working if the IM network chooses to block them. This concern still exists when you’re using web-based services like Meebo that aren’t approved by the IM network, which is worth remembering.
Nevertheless, web-based IM has come a long way. Thanks to technologies like Ajax, web-based IM clients can rival the rich experiences that desktop clients provide, and of course, a benefit of a web-based client is that you can go to another location and not have to install desktop software. And Meebo certainly looks one of the more promising web-based IM clients at the moment.