instant messenger help

hi, can someone help me find a messenger program? i've never really used one but i want to call up some old school friends that i only see afew times a year and see if i can get everyone using it. maybe they already do use it i want to try it out with helen and her room-mates first.

i know afew of my friends use Macs and i suppose some have PCs and i use Linux. what should i do? i know i have Gaim on Ubuntu
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/

i want to set something up here (windows XP) then talk to helen when i get home. what should i set up here? Trillian? MSN? Miranda? thanks.

iceni

 

my preference goes to to trillian tho it hasnt been updated in a while. it has a wide variety of features like skins, plugins, web cam support, microphone, etc.

the differences between pro ($25) and basic (free) can be seen here.

gaim and miranda are quite lacking, tho they should be sufficient for basic IM.

 

Hello,
You can use GAIM in Windows, too.
Mrk

 

thanks for the help. i'll pick between Trillian and Gaim then.

i think most people here in the UK use the MSN network does anyone know if that's correct?

 

i'm installing Trillian the install is asking for Quicktime for video conferencing. i'm going to leave it for now. is there a way to use something else if it's ever needed, or does it have to be QT? i think QT alternative is installed. thanks.

 

i dont use video conferencing, so at the above message i would normally click no.

trillian does need quicktime for encode video streams in audio/video chat; however, it is still unclear whether trillian can use quicktime alt.

 

thanks, WSF. i don't know why i haven't thought of using IM before. i have friends who've moved to Italy and the U.S and it'll be great to keep in contact with them.

i'm just abit too old for my school friends and i to have all had computers when we were at school, that's why i haven't really used IMing before i suppose.

 

One side note to Trillian. There may be connection issues to AIM/Yahoo/MSN from time to time. They're usually fixed, but it's something to be aware of.

Gaim in my opinion could use more features, or more plugins. It just doesn't do enough compared to Trillian IMO.