I use Pidgin to IM, I first came across it during the brief period I used Ubuntu, Pidgin was the default IM program packaged with the OS. I liked it. Minimal interface, tabbed chat window, multi-protocol, no ads, basic core features yet extensible for those who need/want extra stuff. A nice program basically.
Nice, but not perfect. One thing I notice with Pidgin is that messages sent to and from MSN contacts often have trouble getting thorough. It’s tempting to blame this on MSN, but when your friends tell you that it’s only you they’re getting frequent bounce-backs from or it’s only you that’s experiencing a high level of bounce-backs then you’ve got to seriously consider that the issue might be the client rather than the network. Although of course the possibility remains that the MSN network deliberately handles traffic to/from non-MSN clients poorly in an effort to drive those non-MSN client users back to an MSN client.
I really don’t want to go back to an MSN client with all the mess, the ads, the bullshit features I don’t want etc etc, and crucially the fact that it’s single-protocol and won’t allow me to connect to both my MSN accounts simultaneously – which is a must for me. So we look for an alternative.
Two come up in the initial search, Digsby and Trillian (4.1 beta).
Digsby has some interesting unique features, unfortunately the current build (as far as I can tell from the support forums) appears to have issues with both 64 bit Operating systems and Windows7. As a Windows7 64 bit user that pretty much rules out Digsby in the immediate future.
What I like about the Trillian 4.1 beta is the Windows7 optimisation with full support for the new Taskbar features including jump lists. Unfortunately bad experiences with previous versions of Trillian (admittedly at least 2 years ago if not longer) and the fact that Trillian comes in Pro (paid-for) and Free versions, the free version lacking various features from the Pro version.
So neither of these clients look like the perfect solution for me. So I implore the WWW, got any suggestions?
freedoms_stain, staying Purple, out.
2 comments:
Digsby is good. I'm using it on the Windows 7 RC, and the only complaint I have is that it logs me off of AIM randomly. But it has a bunch of cool features. Should at least give it a shot.
Normally I would just install and try, but I'm reluctant to install random stuff I might not use until the Revo team officially support 64 bit operating systems and I'm sure I can properly and fully uninstall stuff with it.
Post a Comment