Hey forum people of all sorts...

i was just wondering what form of IM programs everyone uses, and which ones people like best. I find that my favorite would be MSN because of all the custom emoticons that you can have, steal, or find.

I prefer MsN, not MSN... okay, okay, that was lame. My jokes are nearly as bad as Ches' now. :razz:
/runs

Um, I do prefer aMSN though.

Msn all the way, i could even go on MSN on my cellphone
and their drawing tool is just awesomeous

yeah, AIM isnt nearly as much fun..

Yahoo messenger is now compatible with microsoft live contacts, you can chat between instant messengers.

And say hello to Trillian www.trillian.cc. Also an integrator, carries MSN, yahoo, AIM, IRC and ICQ. All in one.

I use trillian if anybody is wondering.

Ah, I was considering this myself, 2.0. It's annoying having different messengers up for different contacts. Of course you can do that on msn, too.. but it's not all that.
/me goes to download and investigate

Not strictly a messaging program but Skype (http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/helloagain.html) has all the usual chat functions, emotes, send/receive files etc

It's main selling point (though it's free) it that it also allows for free PC to PC telephony (which, having been trying it out for a few days now seems far clearer than that on offer in msn or yahoo.) It also boasts group voice chatting too. You can sign up for PC to landline calls at discounted rates, though I've not tried this side of it.

Well worth a look from my experience so far

I'm on msn and yahooooha
I like hmm yahoo better, but most of my friends only have msn

That trillian sounds good actually, but I'm afraid my computer will explode if i'd download that, gotta remove all the junk first..

I use trillian if anybody is wondering.

I use a similar multi IM (MSN/Yahoo/AIM/etc.), called Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net). This is in beta (and has been for a while, but it's still gets updated regularly), but I've grown extremely used to the simple clean interface, and the tabbed msg window (Like Firefox/IE7).

You have a small tabbed chat window, which can have multi conversations, from a mixture of MSN/Yahoo/AIM, and a single Buddylist window. Rather than 3 buddy lists, and X number of chat windows open. :biggrin:

You don't get all the useless stuff, sorry...bells & whistles...of MSN/Yahoo/AIM. It does lack video however, but the next major release is meant to have it.

If your on a Mac, there's a multi IM called Adium (http://www.adiumx.com/), which I've never used, but I have heard good reports.

If your on a Mac, there's a multi IM called Adium (http://www.adiumx.com/), which I've never used, but I have heard good reports.

Ooerrr.. I'll have a look into that, as Trillian isn't compatible for mac users. Thank you.

MSN all the way (when the damn thing decides to work - it is rather anal at the moment :rolleyes:)

msn all the way! I know it kicks me out alot but the benefits are too great. I've been known to use Trillian in the past but it's so boring, there's nothing that's in msn that's in trillian now ie sounds, nudges, winks etc

*Amandi picks up her, stupid-keep-disconnecting-me MSN and runs away

I still stick by the drawing tool they have on msn, I lurv sending my friends piccy's that i draw, heheheh...

Ooooo I love doing that too, yet another reason for MSN!

I like eBuddy. It's pretty cool, and you can use it wherever there is a computer connected to the internet

whats ebuddy?

Go to ebuddy.com and find out.

Is it picky if were to say class IRC (Internet Relay Chat) as instant messaging since it is real time chat (instant) and chat is a form of messaging.

So yeah i guess what im trying to say is do IRC clients count as well?

ummm.. yes?
seems like the same thing to me

Ok then a list of IM programs i use of various flavours i've used or still use:
MSN
YIM
ICQ
Skype (not quite IM but similar)
mIRC (IRC)
xchat (IRC)
irssi (IRC)
CGI:IRC (IRC)
PJIRC (IRC)

wow, you use a lot of them :eek:

/me has always used MSN.

everyone i need to talk to uses msn anyhow. mostly. i'm too lazy to make accounts on other IMing programs and have to add everyone again...

wow, you use a lot of them :eek:

Heh
The beauty of IRC clients is you can connect to many different IRC networks instead of just the default one the IM client you use provides.so add the the list of clients the 4-5 IRC networks im a regular on and the list grows even more.

wow...
id be overwhelmed

wow...
id be overwhelmed

Oh it gets better then that. When im on the 5 IRC networks i tend to go on im in around 30-35 different channels (rooms) which arnt always active but im still there though.

* Brighter uses MSN...i was forced into it

I use trillian if anybody is wondering.

/me medicates 2.0 and hope it gets better.

I would not touch Trillian with a 200ft pole it's the biggest piece of waste I have ever come across and that includes AOHELL lol.

Well, with MSN, you can add Yahoo people too. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure you can add any type of messaging thing-a-ma-goober.

* BB;68888 medicates 2.0 and hope it gets better.

I would not touch Trillian with a 200ft pole it's the biggest piece of waste I have ever come across and that includes AOHELL lol.

Had a trillian experience eh? A few people have told me trillian horror stories, but i'm quite happy with it. Considering my current PC is an 800mhz, 256mb ram fossil, running on windows 2000, i cannot install windows live because the computer starts coughing up hairballs and passes out for a week. Trillian is light and simple enought hat even a former laptop of mine (a 1996 200mhz dell) could handle it. But i'm starting to prefer the yahoo one...

You are quite right about my having had a bad experience with Trillian and I was not even the one using the awful thing.

I am fiercely protective of my privacy as I'm sure many of you are already aware from various posts I have made on the subject. Some time ago I noticed a name on my msn list that I did not recognise and on checking the email address I was still none the wiser. After a while I plucked up the courage to message this person and ask who they actually were :embarrassed: It turned out that this person on my msn contacts (where I have it set to ask permission before adding anyone) was the girlfriend of a nice French player I had added. We figured out that the way she ended up on my list without my permission was because they both shared trillian on the same computer:mad: :mad:

Since that time I have heard no end of stories about trillian having various security breaches and have always advised anyone who mentions it to steer well clear.

As a sidenote I have tried live messenger several times and hate it so I'm yet again back on MSN Messenger 7.5 with A-Patch so I can open multiple IDs at the same time :twisted: I also have YIM, AIM & skype LOL. What can I say, I'm a busy lady.

I'm another disciple of the all-in-ones given that I have contacts on ICQ, MSN and AIM, which means Trillian on my PCs and Adium on my Macs.

Trillian is fairly utilitarian for the basic/free version, and I've been using it for years without any dramas.

I'm really liking Adium at the moment though - it's one shiny prog. Mmm, shiny!

Some time ago I noticed a name on my msn list that I did not recognise and on checking the email address I was still none the wiser. After a while I plucked up the courage to message this person and ask who they actually were :embarrassed: It turned out that this person on my msn contacts (where I have it set to ask permission before adding anyone) was the girlfriend of a nice French player I had added.

This happened once to me. My sister-in-law couldn't find MSN on the computer so she opened trillian and logged herself in, i ended up with all of her contacts, some of which were quite annoying. It's a huge bug, but not really if you don't share a computer.

See thing is that trillian saves all contacts on the computer, it doesn't load them online like msn does. When a different user logs in it gives you a gizzillion authorizations to add the user to the list. To avoid getting your gizzillion users on someone elses computer, people have to click NO on all these authorizations. I'm going to download the new version when i get a new computer (if i get a pc, i'm also thinking of getting a g5), apparently this issue has been solved by creating different user profiles for each account, we'll see about that.

i have AIM Triton 6.0.

* Brighter uses MSN...i was forced into it

awww, im sorry you can delete it if you want ;P

i prefer MSN over all the others.. just because it has the writing tool, and the games you can play right from the chat window, although it does have its problems, i wouldnt want to use anything else :smile: