i prefer pidgin
http://pidgin.im

AIM used to be the best but their servers have problems at time. I like yahoo better. Plus they have way better smilies!!!

Pidgin if you use as windows based comp and Adium if you use Mac. I actually use both since i dual boot. Both of them allow you to sign into numerous accounts at the same time. I love Adium, looks a lot better than most. It also helps that is on a Mac : )

whats the website for that audim thing?

adium*

its adiumx.com

its really cool, if you own a mac you should have adium if you chat with anyone

Actually Adium and Pidgin, while both excellent, are not IM clients. They are account aggregators. I mean “reliable” in that fewest server problem issues, trouble connecting etc. Also want to be able to send while a person is offline and have them receive it when they login.

they all such then lol

I’ve used everything. I like adium the most.

Does Adium support video and audio chats yet?

I like AIM best, and here is why:

• I’ve had my squirbel@aol.com for 15yrs
• The servers are very reliable
• They have IM programs for every platform that actually work (ie Mac, Linux, Windows, Windows mobile, Symbian, iPhone osx, web, java… You get the point)
• I don’t care about graphical smilies, but clients like adium let you choose your smilies in bundles
• You can receive offline messages, and when you log on from a mobile device you have a tag next to your name saying so
• iPhone is getting iChat in June, will use data stream and not text messages
• AIM is just better and the others suck (blatant tech bigot) :D

the iPhone is gonna have iChat? OMG my day is about to be made!!!!!

Sure, there is AIM for many platforms, but when I first got my MacBook Pro, AIM for Mac would crash and relaunch in a seemingly infinite loop. I understand that it has been in a beta state since 2004 until recently.

Adium already does what this official AIM client for Mac does; don’t bother downloading it. Plus, you can connect to Yahoo!, Windows Live, and many other services with Adium.

The only issues with multi-protocol IM apps like Adium is the unreliability of file transfers and a lack of webcam support. AIM file transfers over Adium are fickle at best. Yahoo file transfers work well and with excellent speed. MSN transfers… Don’t even bother! I barely get 1 kbps over MSN.

With all that said, I use Adium for all my general chatting. If I want to use my webcam, I load up the official Yahoo! client, and if I have to send a file over MSN, I load up the official Microsoft Messenger. Of course, users can always upload files to MediaFire or ZShare. The Yahoo, AIM, and Microsoft IM apps for Mac OS X are lacking a lot of features their Windows counterparts boast. Adium works just fine for general purposes.