How many instant message programs do you have? I would be surprised if your list included AIM, MSN, Google Talk (a.k.a Gmail/Gchat), Yahoo! Messenger, and maybe even the classic ICQ. Sometimes managing all of these programs at once can be a bit difficult, so developers have made all-in-one programs from where you can control all of your instant messaging account. One of the more popular options is Trillian.
I had been hearing some noise about Pidgin, which is an open source all-in-one instant messenger program, so I decided to try it out. It really is a pretty handy program. I’ve only got three accounts (AIM, MSN, Google Talk) linked up to it, but according to the website you can set-up up to 16 different IM-type accounts.
Overall, the interface is extremely simple and easy-to-use. The main screen shows all of your buddies divided up by group titles. Instant messaging is straightforward, and multiple conversations take place in one window with different tabs. Beyond that you can send files… and change your buddy icon. But that’s pretty much it. It seems to be pretty light-weight, quick to start up, and bug-free.
So overall, it does get the job done. Although I have been using it for a while, this probably would not be a good choice for somebody who enjoys all the bells and whistles that each IM program may have to offer. Things like voice and video chat are absent. Thus, it is easy to see why Skype isn’t included as a supported IM-type. A strange thing that I noticed (maybe it’s just me) is that the status updates don’t always transfer, especially to Google Talk. When I put myself as “Away,” that definitely did not show up as “Away” (yellow circle) in Google Talk. I think the same thing may have happened with MSN, which showed me simply as “Online” rather than “Busy/Do Not Disturb.” I don’t know, it could’ve just been me.
But honestly, I do appreciate having a central place to handle all of my accounts from. Of course I could try out Miranda (which I found ridiculously ugly) or the more popular Trillian… but what I have works. I hope they’ll be able to make it even better.
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