Alternatives to TiK?

Another member of Clan Anonymous Coward asks: "What alternitives are there to TiK? If I remember correctly ICQ is all reverse engineered on Linux which doesn't really make it much better than our current fight with TiK. There is always Talk and IRC but none of those have a centralized location service the way TiK does. I like TiK because you don't have to deal with multiple networks (IRC) and you don't have to deal with figureing out where some dynamic ip went (Talk). What other options exist. "

"AOL Instant Messenger" Alternatives

[dvdbn]

There exists a program called "GAIM" (homepage [marko.net]) that will allow you to chat on AOL's Instant Messenger network without needing to use Windows or Macintosh. You can also use AOL Quick Buddy (Click here to launch it [aol.com]). It's an applet but it does the trick and it's better than nothing.

As for other services, I just use ICQ. I generally use Licq (homepage [licq.org]), but there exist a number of other clients. I've found that I like Licq the best. Linuxberg (homepage [linuxberg.com]) has a lot of chat programs as I recall.

Hope this helps.