Gaim - (Open Source)
Chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger and stay on an IRC channel at the same time is possible when using Pidgin software.
Pidgin is an email client that allows to chat with MSN, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ and other contacts, from a single interface. Available in several languages, this software offers convenient features to comfortably talk.
Pidgin software brings together in a single window the AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber / XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu- Gadu, IRC, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MXit, MySpaceIM and Zephyr contacts.
The application gives the ability to chat with multiple contacts at once even if they come from different networks discussion. It is even possible to make a conference if necessary.
Even if the icons of contacts for each account are already marked by their respective icons, it does not prevent the user to create customized friends, relatives, colleagues categories, etc.
Pidgin offers several smileys to liven up the discussion. As the software supports adding plugins, user can also download more smileys on the Internet to enrich the library.
2.2.1 (9/28/2007):
Richard: We have some new code in the pipeline, but it's not quite
ready for a general release. Instead, this is basically a bug fix
release.
Luke: Unfortunately the necessity of this bug fix release means
some of the tickets that have been closed as part of the 2.2.1
milestone are not actually fixed yet. We have grabbed as many
of the changes as we could while avoiding those that are as
yet unstable though, and this should still be a marked
improvement over 2.2.0. We have spent a lot of time since the
last release looking at the tickets that have been submitted
and many of them have been closed.
Stu: I haven't NEWS'd in a while. I haven't actually done much for
too long also, maybe I'll find some time soon. This release is
basically what 2.2.0 should have been - it actually compiles this
time.
Changes:
Version 2.2.1 (09/29/2007):
http://developer.pidgin.im/query?status=closed&milestone=2.2.1
NOTE: Due to the backporting that happened for the actual
release, it is possible bugs marked as fixed in 2.2.1
will not be fixed until 2.2.2.
libpurple:
* A few build issues on Solaris were fixed.
* Cancelling the password prompt for an account will no longer leave
it in an ambiguous state. (It will be disabled.)
* Fixed an erroneous size display for MSN file transfers. (galt)
* Fixed multiple memory leaks, particularly in XMPP and MySpace
protocols
* Fixed remembering proxy preferences and status scores
* Gmail notifications are better tracked
Pidgin:
* Fixed keyboard tab reordering to move tabs one step instead of two.
* You should no longer lose proxy settings when Pidgin is restarted.
* Fixed detection of X11 when compiling
Finch:
* Pressing 'Insert' in the buddylist will bring up the 'Add Buddy' dialog.