Well, it’s time I made my own post about this. I’ve used several of them. They’ve all got their good and bad. So in no particular order I will list a few of my favorites. Keep in mind that I am not going to talk about Mac apps…as we all know that most out there for a Mac by far kick these others out the door!

Trillian

When I went searching for my first multi protocol IMer, I went with the highly regarded Trillian. It worked great! I was so happy with it I even went looking for plugins and skins for it. I got it where I wanted it…until google came out with Google Talk. Trillian is NOT open source (and most of you know that I am a huge supporter of the open source world). Sure you could talk to your yahoo, msn, aim friends…but as gtalk got more and more popular I started to only use it. In order to get that functionality you had to upgrade to their paid $$$ version. NOPE…not my cup of tea! My search began again…

Gaim

Wow…how far Gaim has come from the first version I downloaded to the most recent. For those of you that are/were use to old school Unix/Linux apps where the developer didn’t take account the UI, you know what I mean. Not that it’s a ton better…but it’s coming along well enough that I haven’t ditched it yet. I use it as my main IMer at work. I’ve been able to use it for all the messenger services I have (Google Talk, MSN, AOL, and Yahoo). I’ve noticed that some people have a very hard time with it. I am not sure if something goes wrong with installation, configuration, or something…but they all talk about how unstable it is and can never keep a connection. I’ve never had this problem at work…BUT!!! I can’t get any version of Gaim to run on my computers at home. It will install…but will not run. If you can get a stable installation, this might be the one I recommend to all my friends and family.

Miranda

Miranda…I can’t give a full report on this one. I’ve just now started to use it on a test machine I have at work. If all goes well then I might try to install it at home to replace Gaim. It’s another IMer that’s FREE and supports all the messengers I use (including gtalk). I’ll be able to give a full writeup at a later date…so be sure to check back. If you want a camparo, Miranda is a lot like Gaim.

Final Conclusion

The simple solution: Just use each individual application. I say this…because it just as easy to download, install and run the stand alone app that was designed for it’s own features. Yahoo IM does stuff that MSn and gtalk doesn’t. When you try to use a multi-protocol app that will support all…you will more than likely lose thos features. Another example…is gtalk has evolved so that it can run standalone or inside your web browser as you are checking and writing email. Now how cool is that!!!!

I guess what I am saying at this time is that I have not found that end all do all application. So when it comes down to it…I’ll run the individual app relevant to the messenger I want to use. That gives me stability, functionality, and all the extra bells and whistles. There hasn’t been an app to prove me wrong yet…and until then…my search will continue.

Let me know if some of you that read this know of others. I’d love to hear about and try new ones.