May I rave over GAIM?

[Master Shake]

When I was doing 100% of my "stuff" in Windon'ts, I tried using as much open-source (or free) things as possible. That led me to download the "free" IM client, Trillian. Trillian is an excellent solution for windows users, but it can be very clunky to set up.

Enter Ubuntu and GAIM

Let's just say the GAIM is hella easier to setup than Trillian, the interface is nicer, and a lot less cluttered. In short, its a straight up joy to use!

I'd say its one of the best.linux.apps.eva!

[Brunellus]

I love GAIM, too. This is one place where the GTK app is MILES ahead of its KDE equivalent (most of the time, they're quite close, for me, and in several instances, KDE nudges ahead).

Things I wish I could do in GAIM: direct connect and voice chat, over the usual AIM protocols.

Otherwise, I love Gaim to BITS.

[Zelut]

GAIM is also available in windows. I use that at work for my IM client. I definitely agree. GAIM is the best client available

[Master Shake]

You shouldn't have told me it was available for windon'ts!

Still though, I don't think I'll download it. I'm happy with what I have now.

And voice chat would be nice. Thank god for Skype though!

[Lovechild]

It seems strange to me to praise GAIM for it's uncluttered interface, that's exactly one of the reasons I don't like gaim, I think it's way to cluttered - I strongly prefer Gossip's interface for my chatting purposes although sadly it doesn't currently support multiple protocols.

I'm one of the people who's afraid of what will happen when Gaim deploys new technology like webcam and voice chatting in terms of mess up the interface.

[Hg80]

Gaim is great but i dont know if theres a plugin for webcam support on windows or linux? this would win me over for sure

[poofyhairguy]

Gaim is great but i dont know if theres a plugin for webcam support on windows or linux? this would win me over for sure

Future version will include that stuff by default. Not yet though.

[Master Shake]

It seems strange to me to praise GAIM for it's uncluttered interface, that's exactly one of the reasons I don't like gaim, I think it's way to cluttered


Keep in mind that I came from Trillian which has a horrendously cluttered (and confusing at times) interface.

[seattlegaucho]

Gaim and Skype have both Windows and Linux versions. Since I need to use both platforms for work, they're great. Gaim's IRC client is a little bit primitive though.

On a side note, Microsoft made at least one contribution to the Gaim project to ensure interoperability with the MSN Messenger protocol. ;)

Cheers,
G

[pmj]

Gaim is nice, but it has some serious issues. I don't know who the hell thought it was a good idea to tell the user that it's connecting or reconnecting via popups, but it sucks. Really sucks. Especially when you can't connect to MSN for a couple of hours and Gaim retries over and over. Sure, they don't end up on top, but with the new flashing window feature, it's going to blink at you until it decides to go away. Also , the IRC client seems buggy in general. And if Gaim is minimized, killing gnome-panel also kills Gaim. And there's a serious lack of plugins.

I still use Gaim though. As long as everything is running smoothly, I have nothing to complain about. I just wish they'd fix the stupid popups.