Gaim, whats all the fuss about?
August 13, 2006Let me start by apologizing to whomever reads this… I was on vacation for the last week and a half.
Now onto the review!
This week I downloaded and tried out Gaim.
Gaim is relatively what you would expect from a multipurpose instant messaging program. It is much like Trillian except it allows you to have more types of screen names linked as can be seen in the included picture. You can link AIM/ICQ, Napster, Gadu-Gadu, and a few others.
So after selecting AIM/ICQ, I quickly filled out the form that it prompts you with the first time it starts. From there, everything was pretty easy if you have used programs like it before.
I did like how the buddy list style was large, you can actually see who is online, and they program they are using is next to it. The chat window seems larger than most programs, and the features are similar.
One feature that I noticed was called Buddy Pounce. Buddy Pounce is basically Aol’s version of the little window popping up in the corner of your screen when a buddy signs on/off or goes away. With Gaim you not only get that feature, you can customize it to just sign on or off, or to see when the buddy 
starts typing. You will never be fooled by them saying, BRB and then just talking to other people.
In conclusion, Gaim is nothing new, just adds more programs to the list that you can link. It is all up to personal preference to what program you use. Personally I am sticking with Trillian because I really don’t need anything besides AIM and MSN linking, and I like to be able to save all the conversations instantly, that way I can look up something if needed.
Gaim gets a ‘Good’ in my book but its not great.
Just a FYI. GAIM also saves convos instantly (Tools, Preferences, Logging, ‘Log all instant messages and/or Log all Chats’.) To see your logged convos, right click on Username, View Log. I’ve never used Trillion so I can’t compare. I like being able to mix Screen names regardless of protocol (ie MSN,IM,Yahoo etc) in MY preferred order. It’s just simple and easy to use.
No new posts since August? Up up! Back on the horse I say! This was a great little blog, keep it up.
-eric
The problem with gaim is that it looks like an old version of AIM. Personally I think trillian looks the best of all the multi-purpose clients. Right now I am connected to AIM, ICQ, MSN, YIM, Google Talk and Xfire all through Trillian. There is also a skype plugin floating around the internet which looks good.