Wesley Novack suggests that Instant Messenger users check out GAIM. GAIM is a free, open-source instant messenger program that is able to connect to the AOL IM service (among others). We agree with Wes; at Of Zen and Computing, we jumped the AIM ship in favor of GAIM on our Windows PCs a long time ago. We’d been finding the AIM software increasingly frustrating until one day when we had our MP3 library playing full blast, and were suddenly blown out of our chair by an obnoxious audio ad that AIM decided to show us. At that moment, we switched to GAIM and never looked back! Some of the reasons we like GAIM are:
- GAIM is free, open-source software supported by dedicated volunteer programmers.
- GAIM does not display advertisements.
- GAIM connects to more than just the AOL IM network.
- GAIM supports add-on functionality called plug-ins. One such plug-in is the encryption plug-in, for those times when you’re having a sensitive conversation across insecure networks.
- GAIM is available for many different operating systems, including Windows, and Linux.
- Check out the GAIM F.A.Q. for more features.
If you’re thinking of hopping aboard the GAIM ship as well, follow these links:
WesleyTech’s “Best Instant Messenger Client?“
GAIM website
