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Gaim For Windows 245

Posted by Hemos from the keep-on-IMing-in-the-free-world dept.
sidesh0w writes "Today the folks from Gaim released an alpha version of their Instant Messenger client for Win32." Gaim is the only IM client I've ever used; I still don't like IM, but Gaim is one sweet program.
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Gaim For Windows More

Gaim For Windows

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  • Bound to happen.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by psamuels ( 64397 )

    Now that the GTK+ Windows port has started to mature, this sort of thing is inevitable. The biggest obstacle to portability in ANSI C these days is usually your GUI layer. The rest of your portability problems - well, that's why we also have glib for Windows..

  • So, how's GAIM better than Jabber?

    Garg

    • Re:Compare and contrast (Score:2, Informative)

      by numark ( 577503 )
      It's not necessarily...it's just an alternative instant messenging program.

      For open source to really succeed, we need to have more than one application in the same area. This is so the average Joe who, say, doesn't like Jabber, has an alternative and is more likely to choose and stay with open source. Before now, if you didn't like Jabber for AIM, the only alternative was to use AOL's closed-source client. Now, if you don't like Jabber, you still have an open-source alternative. That's what it's all about.

    • Re:Compare and contrast (Score:4, Informative)

      by uchian ( 454825 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:11AM (#4256289) Homepage
      Gaim is client side, rather than server side. The main advantage of this is that AOL, etc. cannot block GAIM from accessing their networks, whilst it is fairly simple for them to notice that a jabber server is acting as a gateway and to block that.

      • Gaim is client side, rather than server side. The main advantage of this is that AOL, etc. cannot block GAIM from accessing their networks...

        Good point, AOL, Yahoo and the other commercial services are often doing stuff to block other clients.

        I've been using a mixture of Gabber [sf.net] and GAIM for the last month or so.

        Gabber has nicer logs and supports PGP signing of presence (jabber) and SSL encryption (jabber again) but GAIM supports IRC and the new Yahoo protocol (I haven't got around to compiling a new on for my Jabber server).

      • Actually in the earlier days, GAIM had several problems with AIM blocking them specifically. I remember several occasions where the Oscar protocol had to be abandoned for days in favor of the miserable TOC protocol while the developers figured out what Aim had thrown at them this time... I think the main reason this hasn't been a problem is that the Aim official client on Linux sucks and they know it, so Gaim hasn't really bothered them. Although it's great to see my favorite client on a new platform, I worry that a Windows port will catch Aol's attention and the blocks will start once again...
      • Question: Why can't jabber client authors include a stripped-down jabber server whose only purpose is to run the AIM transport? That way everyone who wants to connect to AIM through Jabber does it from their own computer, making it the same as gaim or Trillian.
    • and ICQ, and TOC AIM, and OSCAR AIM, and a bunch of other protocols that I haven't heard of.

      Jabber is a protocol, not a client, and cannot be compared with GAIM for that reason.

  • Great Stuff (Score:2, Interesting)

    by reddfoxx ( 534534 )
    This is truly great. I also have used gaim for the past few years and have been increasingly dissatisfied with the Windows alternatives. Previosly I have had to content myself with Gaim running remotely through Cygwin and ssh.

    At long last I will be able to use blaim (blowfish encrypted AIM) in windows. That is if I can figure out the compile options ;-).

    Hopefully the development will stay active on this front.

  • Trillian (Score:2, Informative)

    by nocent ( 71113 )
    Yes, GAIM is great for Linux but on Windows, I use Trillian [trillian.cc] Supports all the protocols as well as IRC.

    One of the cool things is if both people use Trillian, they can communicate using SecureIM which encrypts their conversations.

    • Yes, GAIM is great for Linux but on Windows, I use Trillian Supports all the protocols as well as IRC.

      Including Jabber? I skimmed a couple of their web pages and didn't notice it.

      I plan to roll out an experimental Jabber server here soon - cross-platform support is nice for that sort of thing, as most of my users are still on Windows. gaim/win32 sounds very useful - we'll see whether it actually works yet.

      Or is there another IM protocol out there with a free server implementation? I thought Jabber was pretty much the only game in town if you didn't want to rely on someone else for your IM service.

      • Including Jabber?

        I don't think it supports Jabber.

        • Gaim DOES support Jabber. As with the other protocols(irc, yahoo, irc, msn, etc..) you activate Jabber support by loading a plugin.
          • Gaim DOES support Jabber.

            Yes indeed. My question about Trillian and Jabber was partly curiosity, but mostly to confirm my suspicion that the standard knee-jerk reaction "why bother with other IM clients, just use Trillian" is not always correct. (:

            (My question further down about wanting to see the Trillian source code to verify its alleged lack of spyware was another devilishly clever attempt to point this out.)

    • GAIM supports IRC too.

    • I, however, have extreme difficulty with Trillian. It simply doesn't work when placed on the other side of a simple SNAT gateway. I can receive messages but not send them and Trillian fails to contact the ICQ database as well, so all I got to look at are MSN names and ICQ numbers. Hence why I switched back to MSN and ICQ (Lite)

      • MSN requires a shitload of ports to be forwarded in to a specific client, something like 1000 IIRC. I might be lumping that together with the MS Gaming Zone, the only time I used MSN messenger was when I used to play combat flight sim a couple years ago when I still had a Windows box.

        ICQ uses UDP and I believe you have to play with UDP NAT and timeout options to get it to work reliably. Again, I havn't used ICQ since ipchains was the main linux firewall system, so things may have changed now.

        It's possible that the "real" clients compensate for the firewall better than trillian, but I'm sure you could get it all working with some firewall/client tweaking.
  • I more like kopete which is a QT/KDE application and supports Jabber/Yahoo/MSN/Icq/AIM etc. Doesnt have a Win32 port but seems sexy :)

    See http://kopete.kde.org/ [kde.org]

    • I haven't been able to compile it so far, as it doesn't support 3.1alpha/beta yet. :/
      Not that it should, of course, until 3.1 is out..just annoying.
  • Do these IM clients sufficiently encrypt their data stream (at let's say 3DES strength) ?
    Otherwise they ain't suitable for non hobbyist use.
    And personally I won't use them in this case for personal chat. Not everybody should know what I'm saying to my girlfriend.
    • But in pratice, that's BS.

      If you think the lack of encryption on these things makes them only good for hobbyist use...

      Businesses use aim/icq/aol and whatnot all the time, officially or unofficially. Just like they use cleartext email, faxes, and phone calls.

      Somethign like this, if it works well, can very well end up on desktops in companies.

    • Re:Encryption ? (Score:2, Informative)

      by tero ( 39203 )
      Gabber (http://gabber.sourceforge.net/) can speak SSL and can encrypt messages using GPG.

      Since it's Jabber based, it can also do MSN, AIM, ICQ, IRC and lots more at the same time...

      Give it a go...
    • Do these IM clients sufficiently encrypt their data stream (at let's say 3DES strength) ?
      Otherwise they ain't suitable for non hobbyist use.

      How many people use strong encrytion in e-mail? Is standard (unencrypted) Internet e-mail unsuitable for business use?
  • I use Trillian [trillian.cc] - So should you!
  • This is good news if you look at it as a way to give windows ppl a chance to try free open sourced software. But I find it bad news as the more good free software ported to propietary platforms, the less open platforms will be needed.

  • Trillian (Score:2, Interesting)

    by roushi ( 599040 )
    As far as Win32 IM solutions go, this is better than Trillian...how? The answer: "It's open source!" isn't valid. While it may become better in time, right now Trillian is the flat out king of Win32 IM solutions in terms of versatility and usability. I don't doubt that it's a fantastic (and it may very well be the best) IM solution on the Linux platform. Maybe in time, this will be important news to Win32 users, but right now it's just another program that isn't as good as others already available.
    • I use trillian when I'm at my parents house. Its a current version. I use gaim when I'm a home. I far prefer gaim. Why? Because trillian's interface is ugly, cluttered, and non-standard. (There is no 'intuitive' interface, just standard.) Gaim is pure, simple, and easy.

    • If you didn't notice, the story is about gaim. Trillian may well be great, but that is nothing to do with story. They didn't port to win32 because it lacked good clients, they did it "just for the heck of it".

      1. To clarify:
      2. You're offtopic.
      3. Gaim isn't trying to displace other IM solutions.
      • If you didn't notice, the story is about gaim. Trillian may well be great, but that is nothing to do with story.

        Actually, while the story may be about GAIM, it's also about non-AOL IM clients, and I think in such a discussion, there's nothing "off-topic" in talking about other non-AOL IM clients. Now, if someone starts talking about something they hate about AOL or Time Warner, I'd be inclined to agree with you.
  • Id prefer this program being built for linux, rather tan gaim for win32. Its opensource, so why not?
  • This tip is for people who like more icq than aim, kde than gnome, qt than gtk. For a long time I was in search for a good icq clone for linux, tryied kicq, licq, kxicq, kopete and others. But this week I found sim-icq - http://sim-icq.sourceforge.net), it even have a windows port and a windowmaker applet. It's full of options, as most kde/linux programs. Really good, and I'm happy with it.

  • IM in companies: a bad idea (Score:4, Informative)

    by kipsate ( 314423 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:26AM (#4256309)
    [ Slightly off-topic ]

    I'm somewhat sceptic to Instant Messaging in companies. I've seen it fail at our company, where they insisted to try it out.

    I see it like this: if you have a message for someone and you don't need an instant reply, e-mail is perfect. If you want to send code snippets, or need to transfer information that is somewhat complicated, use e-mail. It enables you to write down everything in a structured way and the receiver can archive the message for later retrieval.

    If you want an instant reply, because you need to discuss something, USE THE PHONE. It is much faster than typing, no matter how fast you type. It is much more convenient, you can exchange information really quickly. Especially in combination of a tool like VNC, which enables you to see eachothers screen and take over mouse and keyboard remotely.

    In our case there was another unfortunate side-effect of IMing. Within weeks, the IT guys were chatting for hours per day with the girls in the office. Some of them often had three chat sessions open simultaneously. Productivity dropped significantly.

    IM silently died.

    • Depends on the situation. (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      When I'm dealing with several issues at once, it's much easier for me to work with several IM windows open, so I can see the thread of conversation and not miss things than it is to stay on the phone constnantly in the office and write notes.

      Some of us are not at our desk by the phone all day, but ARE at our desk frequently. Instant messaging helps with this as well.

      If your staff stops working as soon as they have a distraction like IM.. you have both communication problems in the company and morale issues with your workers. Are they not allowed to talk normally?

      I'd say it didn't work out for you, but I guarantee it works out for others.

      VNC is not a viable alternative for office messaging. Maybe it's an alternative for mr IT guy to fix some computer on the next floor, but it's hardly relevant here.

    • Re:IM in companies: a bad idea (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      At my company we use e-mail, IRC, and Usenet. Works like a charm.

      About the side-effect of IMing - girls.. Well, we don't have anyone
      here, so I guess it's out of the question. :)

      Any girls with a knownlegde of UNIX looking for a job?
    • We use AIM at the company I work for. We staff computer labs at a college, so the labbies can communicate with each other, with the techs, and with the operations office without disrupting the people working in the labs with noise. The only problem is that when AIM goes down, we're in the dark. (I've tried to get them to run their own IRC or jabber server, but to no avail.)

    • Re:IM in companies: a bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Trinition ( 114758 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @09:39AM (#4256485) Homepage

      If you want to send code snippets, or need to transfer information that is somewhat complicated, use e-mail

      Didn't you just say you might not get an instant reply? So what if you need to show someone a code snippet but DO need an instant reply?

      archive the message for later retrieval.

      Don't know what IM client you used, but I use Trillian, and it does archive things for me.

      If you want an instant reply, because you need to discuss something, USE THE PHONE. It is much faster than typing, no matter how fast you type

      OK, I have a little exercise for you. Read the following out loud on th ephone, and imagine someone on th other end trying to transpose this back into text:

      for(int index = 0; index < list.length; index ++) {
      x &= ((Integer)list.get(index)) << index;
      }

      Do you seriously think saying "curly-brace", "binary shift to the left", and "cast to Integer class" are easier to say than type/read?

      And what of presence? Do you have some way of known if the person you immediately need is available on the other end? Suppose there were three people who could answer your question... you might have to call all three to determine that no one is available, or sometimes at least more than one if the first guy isn't available. With IM presence, you ca see that immediately befoerehand.

      Especially in combination of a tool like VNC

      So you want people to mix-and-mach tools to try and come close to something that a new paradigm, IM, does perfectly well? Why even use a phone when you could use a telegraph? Why use a computer when you could use an abacus and some paper?

      Within weeks, the IT guys were chatting for hours per day with the girls in the office

      And they never did this with the phone? Or send each other e-mails? IM just made it so convenient that they started doing something they had so little drive to do before IM lowered the hurdle? Or maybe they're sepdning less time sending frivilous e-mail and using a more efficient conversational medium, saving disk sapce on the corporate mail server and gaining productivity?

      Now, for some business cases that DO work!

      • Tier-3 support in city A conversing with Tier-2 support in city B, cutting out long distance costs.
      • Tier-3 support being able to participate in multiple conversations with Tier-2 simulatenously.
      • Completely tele-commuting-based company keeping their phone lines free for important calls while cutting&pasting code snippets back and forth.
      • Development office in city A conversing with development office in city B to get information immediately to anser the customer's question on the phone without perceived iterruption.


      I don't know why everyone thinks IM is so teenagers can ask each for age/sex/location checks. It is a communication tool, and a very fast, conversational convenient one at that. People can use any conversation medium for good or bad (i.e. e-mail is getting overwhelmed with spam!) Don't chuck out the whole medium just because you've found one malignant thing growing in it. Just use your own judgement, and rules in the case of the fomer poster who works at a company where teh employees have no ethical control over their use of their work time (and the big bosses don't have thecalls to fire them).

      • "I don't know why everyone thinks IM is so teenagers can ask each for age/sex/location checks."

        Thats because 90% of everyone using IM are teenagers wasting time often checking age/sex/location with each other.

        "Don't chuck out the whole medium just because you've found one malignant thing growing in it."

        You're right. But most IM clients are designed to waste your time. I'm talking about the strange cutesy toys. I'm talking about the huge lack of security many of them offer. Someone did something with my yahoo account, I haven't been able to log back in since.

        Here's some things I'd like to see for IM to be used for Real Work. I'd like to see collaborative editing. Letting two or more people edit a document in real time while discussing the editions. You are talking about coding. It would be great if the IM clients could support more programming editing features, or at least hook into emacs (or your editor de joure).

        But honestly, do you see any of the above happening? Its not that IM can't be used for real work. Its just hardly anyone does. And that decides upon the class of features that gets put into the program.

        Also, does anyone know what picture ++) turns into in yahoo messenger from the coding example I am replying to?
    • OTOH, IBM has used their own IM server product, Sametime, for years. There are more employees in my division than AT&T has *worldwide*, and a lot of us need to consult with each other. Sure, we have "follow me" phone numbers, but to successfully use the phone, a) you actually have to tell the system the number you're at, and b) you either have to run up your own phone card charges or the customer's phone charges.

      I regularly IM people in Paris, London, Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (all work related) within minutes of each other or in parallel. Imagine if I took your advice and called all those people!

      Finally, there's a great new system under development that rides overtop of Sametime and allows employees to post a question to organizational groups (all the way up to "everyone") The question slides in on the corner of the recipients' desktops for a few seconds with a button to click if anyone wants to provide an answer.

      You may have only been thinking about a small business in one facility, but expand your horizon and you'll see its a very different world when you go global.
    • I use IM constantly in a business environment and have found it to be a major productivity tool.

      The fact that your tech guys were using it to get pootang is not a valid argument. That is an HR problem. They could have been spending hours a day e-mailing, phoning or screwing in the broom closet, too. That is like cutting off all internet access because some PHB wanker is surfing for porn.

      I use it to communicate with the person who sits five feet across the room from me. It is much less interrupting than a voice conversation, it doesn't matter if he is on the phone, if I have my headphones on, or if I am working from home, or he is working from home, etc. It just works.

      We use it to communicate with customers. Much faster turn-around than e-mail. MUCH easier than trying to get everyone on the phone. MUCH quicker than picking up the phone, dialing the number, figuring out their extension, and then getting voicemail.

      Much of my communication involves URL's, GUID's, SQL statements, e-mail addresses, large numbers (surrogate database keys), etc. I could not imagine trying to read a GUID or an 80 character URL over the phone and actually getting it right.

      You say use the phone? Ugh... Even with a headset, phones are just a pain in the butt. Almost all of my two-five minute phone calls have been replaced with 20-60 second IM sessions. That means I can get back to work and am more productive.
    • My phone doesn't log conversations. That pretty much is the kicker for me.

      Kintanon
    • I'm working on a contract at Warner Music Group. Everyone there (at least IT) uses IM... and you know what??? IT WORKS.

      Being able to communicate with people spread across different floors or even 100 feet away is very convenient. Phone calls require 100% communication and can't be done in parallel.

    • I agree for the most part (phone is better if you need instant response in a business setting). But..

      I haven't used other clients, but I like AIM -- small, well-behaved, and not too bad for security as such things go (even AOL does some things right :) I've found AIM useful for "conference calls" for projects with friends, where none of us wants to ring up a long distance bill and where it's useful to have a record of what ideas we tossed around. I can see how in *some* business settings, such as where creative ideas are being generated at high speed, it could be equally useful.

  • Best Feature. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cioxx ( 456323 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:31AM (#4256313) Homepage
    The tabbed conversation window should be enough incentive to wait for a stable release of this program on Windows. Other than that, trillian or AIM+ pretty much keep me happy.

    Tabbed windows are godsend. I hate it when I have to have several windows open. It clutters the desktop and gets pretty annoying.
    • all the times Trillian has been unable to run AIM, GAIM seems to work for me.
      On the other hand, I have never had consistant results using GAIM's ICQ plugin. (sometimes people hear me, sometimes not)
      I have found no resources noting this, and the latest version of trillian lets me use AOL again.. so Trillian it is, until somebody tells me what's wrong with gaim.
      • all the times Trillian has been unable to run AIM, GAIM seems to work for me.

        Hmmmm, so this story has a downside. Now that GAIM is available for Windows, it may gain enough userbase to show up on AOL's radar, and the two of them will subsequently have the same arms race we've seen with Trillian.

        There's something to be said for a small userbases, whether it be running Apache+OpenSSL on non-i386 Linux, or GAIM on non-Windows....

        • Show up on AOL's radar?

          Wasn't gaim originally an official offshoot of AIM? Sponsored by AOL?

          If I remember correctly AOL even sicced their pack of lawyers on the gaim project for trademark violations or something of that sort.

          I'd think AOL is very well aware of the gaim project.
    • Yeah, but is it possible to easily switch between tabs using the keyboard? The only way I've been able to do so is by using tab/shift tab. And frankly, that's just pathetic compared to Adium's command-left/command-right switching between tabs. If someone knows a better way to do this in Gaim, please speak up.
    • Are you slightly crazy? Why do you want per-app specific tabs? I prefer using one of the many window managers with tabs. I use Ion but I recommend fluxbox or pwm (because Ion is... different).

      I used to run tabbed mozilla within Ion but last month I went back in prefs and removed all tabbed browsing because I'd rather use Ions tabs.
    • Just a quick note, if someone else hasn't already pointed this out. Trillian (both "free" and "pro" versions) does support tabbed conversation, you can attach one or more windows to a particular named container. And you have have multiple containers. I find this to be a very useful feature.
    • Hope you've got an always-on connection because GAIM has never supported reconnecting, nor staying the the background until a connection is made. On Unix, there's no real alternative, but on Windows, all of them can...
  • Trillian [trillian.cc] has also released their "next-generation" IM client, Trillian Pro. Luckily (for me at least), those of us who have contributed at least one dollar in the past can get it for free, and those who didn't must pay $25 for it.
    • 25 bucks is a lot of money for an IM client, even if it can resequence my DNA while I'm idle.


      I like how the page has a giant "slashdot" buddy group, with a "wired" link below it... now correct me if I'm wrong, but that plus sign next to the slashdot means that the list is already expanded, indicating that he has no slashdot friends at all! :(

      actually, i like trillian. i live in the same office as a call center, and since they are all windows, they use trillian, and i use gaim and that irc client with the vulgar name. its great cause the call center can use the irc feature to access our private ircd and swap confidential info, and they need but one client to do it. in fact it looks like they're one up on me and my layout! i'll randomly find the irc-im plugin that is stable, but until that day...

      • 25 bucks is a lot of money for an IM client, even if it can resequence my DNA while I'm idle.
        I agree. I'm glad I donated $5 a couple months ago. Also, they're only accepting money for Trillian through paypal now, so if I hadn't donated earlier I'd have to wait for them to accept checks or credit, as I refuse to get a paypal account.

        And generally in Windows the plus sign means the list is hidden--click on it to expand, and a minus sign means the list is shown, and clicking it will hide the list. It's similar to the restory/maximize button next to the X in Windows programs.
      • Trillian 0.74 continues to be free, it's lacking in some of the pro features like plugins but hey, I managed to get by with 4 other versions of Trillian without the plugins.

        It may not be Open Source, but it's the next best thing. Free.

  • attn headline author/editor (Score:5, Funny)

    by kevin lyda ( 4803 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:43AM (#4256338) Homepage
    you have a story about gaim for windows and the headline you come up with (or allow through) is "gaim for windows." lame.

    c'mon, this is easy: "windows got gaim."

  • Hrm.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sc00ter ( 99550 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:44AM (#4256339) Homepage
    Well I just tried it and to say it's crash happy is an understatement. I use gaim in linux and it's great, but for windows I think I'll stick with trillian.

  • Voice Over IP support (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Adnans ( 2862 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:48AM (#4256346) Homepage Journal
    Does anyone know if GAIM is going to support Voice Over IP? IMHO that's the killer app for any IM platform.

    -adnans

  • Some Trillian users express usability concerns (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Uksi ( 68751 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:52AM (#4256353) Homepage
    Check this forum thread: Go Try WinGAIM! [trillian.cc].

    Quoting the original poster:
    Here is my experience:
    • Everything is plugin...so nothing but AIM/ICQ out of the box.
    • I was dropped AT LEAST 5 TIMES in 5 minutes
    • No copy/paste in chat windows (CTRL=C brings up "Colors")
    • No right-clicks.
    • No SecureIM.
    • Can't click to follow links.
    • COMPLETELY NON-Intuitive interface

    So I don't agree with the "no plugins" argument (just go and download the darn things), but the rest are serious problems.

    However, it's alpha! Why treat an alpha release like the final product? So, another poster said:

    I did make certain to be distinct in saying WinGAIM and not GAIM. I've not used GAIM and from what I've heard and read, it's kick-ass.


    I know *for a fact* that the point in releasing their "alpha" 3 days after the Trillian release was to steal thunder. I also know that seanegan is a frequent guest in one of the Trillian channels, where he openly recruits people to try his software.

    Since there is plenty of "Trillian-bashing" going on in Trillian forums, I figured I'd point out that if anyone thinks WinGAIM is a viable alternative, they'll be extremely disappointed.

    And I know....it's alpha. But if you're gonna run with the big dogs, you've got to be able to piss in the tall grass.

    So any Windows Trillian or AOL AIM users who have tried WinGAIM and have experiences to post?

  • Great stuff.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by unorthod0x ( 263821 )
    I switched to gaim a long while ago (when I switched my primary workstation to run Linux), after having tried out many other alternatives it seemed like the only one that worked! Of course it doesn't work perfectly, often I'll have people online but not showing up as being so, the lack of file transfer through most conduits is annoying (but, in all honesty, welcome :), real-time multi-user chat just plain ain't there. My adoption of gaim despite all of the above is testament to the fact that there is an acute niche for this kind of software.. Having a Windows version is welcome news; for the rare moments where I have to boot in to Windows it'll be handy not to have to lose touch with everyone.
  • I've had nothing but problems with gaim. Maybe I have too many people on my lists, but...

    whenever I log in using gaim, all my lists get completely screwed up. For every list that exists, a new list is created with the name and then a number after it. The people that used to be in the single group are now spread between the two groups. Sometimes "buddies" disappear all together.

    No, not a big fan of gaim. Just screws everything up.

  • So long, GAIM (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hatless ( 8275 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @09:49AM (#4256514)
    GAIM was nice to have around on Unix. Too bad the presence of a widely-available Win32 version will force AOL to block it once and for all, in order to maintain their legal position against opening their system up to Microsoft.

    • Re:So long, GAIM (Score:3, Interesting)

      by garcia ( 6573 )
      actually I was hoping that the Windows alternative would kinda force AOL to adopt the GAIM software as its own instead of the shit it uses now.

    • Re:So long, GAIM (Score:2, Informative)

      by L.Schierer ( 23008 )
      BTDN. AOL tried to block libfaim, the library gaim uses for OSCAR(aim/icq) support last year in May and June. Each block attempt worked for a day or so at most. By the time they gave up, some winaim users were having trouble connecting because Gaim was mimicing winaim so closely packet-wise the server was having false positives. So we aren't really worried that AOL would have better luck this time around.
      • The GAIM webpage claims that they have never been the target of a deliberate blocking attempt by AOL. They say that the intermitted connection problems to OSCAR last summer were due to AOL's attempts to block MSN from connecting to the AIM network, which blocked GAIM as collateral damage, but were fairly easy to work around since they weren't specifically targetted at GAIM.

        So if they actually did target GAIM, they might have more success.
  • I hear that Gaim speaks jabber - but jabber speaks AIM as well as a bunch of other protocols. I've got a jabber server running, I use ICQv7 protocol, MSN and Jabber - I had Yahoo and AIM installed too but none of my (few) users used it, so I disabled it - less to maintain ;)
    Anyway I haven't used anything else in more than a year!
    Oh yeah and a nice feature of Jabber/ICQv7 is that you can add any mobile phone to your buddy list - and send SMS messages from the IM :) (I know it's ICQ but this is simpler!)

    For the client side I use Psi [affinix.com] - A VERY cool client - available for BOTH Linux and Windows! It's really nice IM client - granted it does miss a few Jabber features such as chatrooms etc... But I never use that - I only use normal IM chat messages...
  • Here are the ones I've been using:
    • XChat (Very nice windoze port!)
    • gvim
    • ethereal

    And now gaim! I'm so happy to have a decent AIM client in windoze now. I didn't really like what was already out there with trillian, etc.

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