instant messenging clients

sup guys.

im looking for a good instant messinging client for windows. I really like the look/feel of adium on osx, but was sad to find out they dont support windows.

I want something that can utilize AIM and possibly MSN, but i dont want to use the defult aim triton or 6.0 or whatever the hell they have now.

Is there a client that is as clean and functional as adium for windows?

my comp is running vista home premium if it matters to anyone....

THANKS

 

You should check out trillian, it can connect to multiple IM services.

 

trillian

miranda im

gaim/pidgen

any of those will do AIM and msn

 

I'd also recommend Trillian or Gaim.

 

second that.

 

Adium is based on Pdigin so check that out.

pidgin.im

 

Miranda-im was my favourite
- but I couldn't transfer my old database to my laptop with vista.

 

i just tried out both trillian and pidgin

i like the simplicity of pidgin but it seems u can't install themes

trillian is good but a little wonky, especially with their tabbed windows..they're really "tabbed"

i guess i'll keep looking...

 

Gaim recently became Pidgin due to AOL's whining that it sounded too much like AIM. Although I suppose it does.

So somebody decided a bird would more become their new iconic figure. I have no idea how they went from little running yellow guy to overweight purple bird, but hey, it's open-source. They can make their logo Al Sharpton if they want to.

 

I suggest Pidgin/Gaim. I didn't like Trillian's interface and well, Pidgin just works out a lot better than me. And you can install themes. I don't remember where, but you can choose it during install or under the start menu, go to Gtk+ and then choose Theme Selector...

 

I like Pidgin, it's stable, doesn't take a lot of resources, and stays out of the way.

 

Trillian for me on Windows. Pidgin for me on Linux.

 

Kind of like Sweden if we ever have a WWIII.

 

Live Messenger

 

Exactly! And everybody likes Sweden!

 

That was fantastic.

 

I recommend Pidgin (formally Gaim) too.

Be aware that there is (maybe it was fixed though) a compatibility issue with the version of the GTK+ that Pidgin uses if you had GIMP previously installed. This can be remedied easily by installing the GTK+ from here.

 

I also suggest pidgin. It's a great product and it's open source. I always try to support open source. It has a lot of good features, almost matching trillian. It does have themes too, but to me that type of stuff is pretty low on the list of priorities.

 

That's why they changed the name?! Never knew that... awesome, thanks for the info.

Matt

 

I really like google talk, the start up speed is nice and no drop outs like MSN. I did use trillian for awhile, it had horrible start up speed. So I dropped it.

 

I use Trillian. Its simple and looks better than other competing multiple-IM clients. Plus it is a minimal resource hog...for me its always used about 3-6MB memory.

Advantages are that your passwords are stored and you can instantly sign onto them once you sign in to Trillian. Trillian includes AIM, ICQ, IRC, Windows Live, and Yahoo! Messenger.

Trillian Pro ($25 from Cerulean Studios) includes other features like Jabber and video chat. You can also trial Trillian Pro by downloading Trillian Basic, and by going to File->Upgrade to Pro.

Request an evaluation version and you'll instantly receive a password which will give you a 15-day trial of Trillian Pro. I've used the trial once or twice and it is pretty good, but I have not tested some of the features like audio and video chat.

 

I used trillian since version 1, and bought the Pro version twice. However, I got REALLY tired of their "subscription model", where you buy "1 year of updates", but they never issue any updates at all. Then, just after most people's subscription is up, the next version comes out. It's the epitome of the bad software subscription model. It makes you feel like when something breaks 1 year and 1 day after your 1 year warranty is expired.

Support open source, use pidgin. It has almost all of the trillian features, and all of the important ones. The only thing it really misses is advanced stuff like video.