| Talk is cheap |
| By: Ionut Ilascu, Editor, Software Reviews |
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Version reviewed: 2.0.0 beta 7
Pidgin is a multi-protocol instant messaging client compatible with AIM (Oscar and TOC protocols), Yahoo, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Jabber and Zephyr networks.
Some features:
Pidgin users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously
Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer (coming soon), away messages, typing notification, and MSN window closing notification
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Communication is the most common activity of a human being. It comes in many forms: oral, written, sign language, body language etc. and... instant messaging. Talking is an innate need of a person and no matter his or her abilities, the human being will always find a way to communicate a message, a feeling, a state of mind etc.
Reaching an unknown territory and trying to talk to the "natives", until learning the new language a human will try to transmit messages as accurately as possible. For this to happen, words from both languages are used and combined. This mix is called "pidgin". The same is called the former GAIM application designed to unite the users of different instant messengers. "Creole" is the next step of "pidgin" development and consists in a standardization, a stabilization.
Pidgin, as you all know is a handy tool that gathers various instant messaging services under one big umbrella. Following AOL's notice of infringement of AIM mark, GAIM had to take some action in order to survive and changed its name into Pidgin. The name in my opinion has a twofold meaning. Most people mistake it for "pigeon" and due to the resounding resemblance who can blame them? A pigeon used to be employed for carrying the messages to a distant destination and Pidgin does exactly the same.
The interface is as Spartan as ever and it echoes nothing but utility and functionality. Immediately after installation (GTK included) you can start adding your accounts. The supported IMs available in Pidgin keep multiplying from one release to another and now, besides the regular service provided by Yahoo!, MSN and AIM, it features a set of nine other IMs like Gadu-Gadu (chitter-chatter in Polish), QQ, ICQ, IRC, GroupWise, SILC (Secure Internet Live Conferencing), SIMPLE, Sametime and Jabber protocol. The list is impressive considering that many people limit to using just a few of them.
All you have to do is fill in the required fields and make the appropriate settings for the server and proxy and that is it. There is no instant messenger list importing operation, you do not have to re-create the buddies groups or other complicated task. You can even have more than one account enabled and all the contacts will be appended to the same list.
Joggling with the accounts is easy as you can automatically sign in in each of them and you Pidgin allows you to disable/enable them anytime you want to. I will not go through the options available in Buddies menu as everyone knows them. Suffice to say that chat rooms, adding buddies or groups is a cinch.
In Accounts you get to handle the messenger IDs and enable different protocols. I joggled with four different protocols and I must say that there was not the slightest sign of instability from Pidgin (except for when I tried to add a FLAC audio file to the Sounds section in preferences and the software crashed).
The core of the application is of course in Tools menu. The first option available is called Buddy Pounces. This allows the user to customize the actions of certain buddies in the list. Sending a message, signing on/off, starting typing, pausing or stopping typing are the actions that can be signaled to you. These events can be defined by you for each user and a when one of them occurs Pidgin can open the IM window, pop up a notification, send a message to the distant user, execute a command or play a user defined sound.
Pidgin comes equipped with a list of plugins designed to add more value to the software. The list is pretty long and the plugins are as varied as can be. From auto-accepting files transfer requests from the buddies in the list, customizing the colors of the conversation, offline messages notification to periodically checking for new versions, automatically replacing
user defined text in conversation and displaying timestamps and applying a certain level of transparency to buddy list and conversation.
Each and every plugin can be customized to a certain extent by the user. For details on the author of the plugin it is enough to expand the Plugin Details section at the bottom of the Plugins window. Some of the items in the list may not work for all protocols, but you will be warned about this in the details window. Additionally, you can learn about the website where it is published and in some cases you even get the e-mail address of the author.
Preferences window allows minimum customization of Pidgin, starting with the interface and ending with status monitoring method. Along the way you will be able to make some adjustments regarding the conversations window, the smileys, sounds (you can add your own sound, but I suggest you stay put as crashes are to come if you tamper). The preferences window also allows you to set the format of log recording to either plain text or to HTML. The log can be tailored according to your wishes, meaning that all instant messages, all chats and all status changes to system log can be recorded. Status/Idle tab deals with the ways of reporting idle time, auto-reply, idle time for status changing and startup status.
For not being contacted by any person that finds out your ID, ICQ number or IM address you can set the privacy options and allow this privilege only to the buddies in your list. These options can be set for each of your accounts.
The application is truly a great asset if you want to combine the lists in different messengers into a single one. All the groups of friends/contacts are added into a single list and you can block some of your contacts, add new groups and handle them the way you need.
The Good
Pidgin combines the power of chat of 12 different IM clients. Considering that these are the most important on the market and that the application is free I would say that it deserves a round of applause. It is extremely easy to configure and installing it and adding your accounts won't take more then a couple of minutes.
The list of incorporated plugins is truly amazing. Additionally, several items are waiting for a downloader on the publisher's page.
The Bad
Unfortunately this version of Pidgin shows it is a beta and there are several issues to be solved. In Buddy Pounces none of my settings could be saved and this kinda broke my crayons. Additionally, in Preferences, under Sounds, I could not change the audio file from the default one. At each attempt I benefited from a crash. I finally realized that I had to have a selection of an event for this to work, otherwise the application will terminate itself.
The info on the buddies is not accurate, at least regarding the operating system (for Windows and Mac from what I have seen). Some of my buddies were using Vista and yet Pidgin claimed that they are using Windows 2000 or a new breed of Windows, NT11 i1586 in isolated cases of XP. In the case of Mac's Tiger I was given the Darwin 8.9.0 edition (from what I've been told this version is the equivalent of Windows 95).
The Truth
Pidgin does a great job in combining the powers of all the aforementioned protocols into one easy to use application. It is not as advanced as Y!IM, MSN or ICQ, but it works great with the basic functions of communication. You will not benefit from video/audio support (striking a deal with AOL to use their servers is very unlikely), but you can write to whoever you want with no restrictions.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
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Editor's ratings:
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1st May 2007, 14:09 GMT | Copyright (c) 2007 Softpedia | Contact:  |
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| | Pidgin (formerly Gaim) 2.4.0 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: |  | | still best instant messenger available to everyone. but now Digsby seems to be the best overall instant messenger. Digsby is still in beta tho and u need an invite code to use it. if thats too much to handle atm, just use pidgin and wait for digsby to go to full release. |
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| | Pidgin (formerly Gaim) 2.1.1 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | | well tried trillian pro and its adware too. so trillian and qnext r all adware. this is really shitty. hopefully astra will be adware free when its in final release but pidgin is proving to be the best IM ((free or paid)) without any form of adware. nice job pidgin crew. |
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| | Pidgin (formerly Gaim) 2.1.1 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | | this to me is the best IM client out there. its not too big, its resource friendly, its stable, its got sound, its adware and virus free, it has an opinion for color screens, it has plug-ins. this basically has everything u could want in an IM all bundled into 1 where all the others lack something or have some form of spyware. |
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| | Gaim 2.0.0 beta 3.1 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | | It's a shame that Gaim has only a 4.4 rating at the time of this review. It really deserves 5 stars because it is clearly far and away better than any competition. The GTK GUI is very clean and lacks annoying advertisements like most competitors. Plug-ins come in very hand, such as the "System Tray Icon" and "Guifications" which has a toaster pop-up to alert you when friends sign on and off. It has all of the features of other chatting programs and then some. You can use it for AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, and more. It is simply an amazing program and is much better than any of its competition. |
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| | Gaim 2.0.0 beta 2 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | They removed the one feature that made this Multi-networked client better than Trillian and Miranda...
The Away Message window (a la official AOL Instant Messenger official client). If you are an avid AIM user, I am speaking of the window that pops up when you turn on your away message that will let you turn off sounds, notifications and will grab all IM windows so they won't bother you while you are away. This is the most important feature of an IM client because I hate being bothered while playing a computer game.
Now, GAIM 2.0.0 has this stupid thing in the bottom of the buddy list which you use to change your status. You can still disable sounds while away in the preferences, but IM windows will bother you as if you never put up an away message. I am so pissed off about this because GAIM 1.5.0 actually had the away window container, but they REMOVED IT!!!!
I refuse to use this client seriously, outside of trying the new builds for 2 minutes, because I NEED the away message container window.
I am so pissed off! |
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| | Gaim for Windows 1.4.0 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | | Actually, just figured out how to minimise to system tray. GUI score goes up to excellent, as does the overall rating. Definitely switching to Gaim from this point onwards! |
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| | Gaim for Windows 1.4.0 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | | Very nice program. I like being able to group multiple entries for a single person. Would be good if the Windows version could minimise the buddy list to the system tray notification area rather than having to keep it on the taskbar. Was annoying that it crashed as soon as I tried to run it, but if you delete the /Gaim/plugins/tcl.dll file it solves the problem. |
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| | Gaim for Windows 1.3.0 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | I had to drop the value down to 4/5 because I have been using Yahoo IM service to talk to some SoftPedia people and GAIM with Yahoo IM is just not going well.
I thought that GAIM had a problem with AIM disconnects. The Yahoo IM disconnects make AIM disconnects look like nothing. Every hour or so, or more, Yahoo IM connection needs to be refreshed. Its a pain in the ass when you are trying to do work in other applcations...like GAMES for example. I finally found myself exiting AIM just to avoid the reconnect window due to Yahoo IM connection issues.
There is no option in GAIM to suppress this window, unfortunately.
I really dont like the fact that more major updates to the software are being completed. Every update seems to have some dopey security fixes that no one in their lifetime would come across or be subject to.
Trillian at least feels the need to upgrade the interface every so often....reworking the whole program.
Miranda? Version 1.0 is supposed to be built from the ground up.
AIM? AIM Triton
MSN? Im not sure (since i havent used MSN very long), but doesnt V7 include a new interface over V6?
Yahoo IM? I remember the days of Version 5, and todays version 6 and 7. Talk about big interface changes.
IM2? Ehh...its still to early to have the need to rework the entire interface, but from what i understand version 2.0 will be completely new, and built from the ground up.
GAIM on the other hand, gives users no hint of any major upgrades.
It has been the same ugly interface for years now...
People keep telling me Direct IM works for AIM, but for me it doesnt. It will connect no problem, but the pictures just do not send, nor can i receive images. This is just unacceptable.
They can keep coming out with new smiley themes to appease those dopes who are all over smiley themes, or little security fixes to appease those weirdo's who somehow stumble upon the issues, and so on, but the fact remains that GAIM is in desperate need of a complete rework...
I tried to get back into GAIM...i ran it for a week. I just recently uninstalled it because I need perfect Direct IM capabilities, and I cant stand the Yahoo disconnects. And a lot of other minor things which make my AIM/Yahoo IM experience terrible.
I couldnt care less if the memory usage is 5 times less with GAIM vs Yahoo IM or AIM...I need a client that can maintain the productivity I have with chat clients, and GAIM just doesnt fit the bill. |
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| | Gaim for Windows 1.2.1 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | hardly ever any AIM updates for GAIM...
Yeah i know the 3 week deal is nice...since like no other software updates as often...but come on, i want to see some major upgrades for the software...maybe some AIM protocol updates.
Direct Connectioning really needs some fine tuning...
Still great though... |
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| | Gaim for Windows 1.1.4 | | | GUI: Features: Ease of use: Value: | | There are serveral softwares available that give users the ability to connect to the major networks not as an alternative to using the official softwares, but rather all at the same time in one program. GAIM is one of them. Heh, I know the people who made the program hate when people call it "GAIM" instead of "gAIM" or "Gaim", but thats how i do it so tough.
There are a couple others out there.
Trillian...its not free though. unless you want the feature stripped free version.
IM2...kind of immature right now, but give it time.
Miranda...highly polished, but heavily feature lacking.
Easy Budy...talk about "use for chat only"
GAIM is the only one that is not only polished (few bugs) and is free, but is updated on a constant basis. You really can't say that with the other ones available. Trillian is on like a 2-3 month update schedule, Miranda...jeez, updates are rare, IM2 is on a 1 year schedule as it seems, lol...Easy Buddy i dont know about.
Now i must note that ive only used GAIM for AIM because i have no buddies on the other services giving me no reason to use it. So this review is solely AIM related.
GAIM supports all the popular features that the Official client has:
Direct Connection
File Send
Buddy Icons
Time Stamping
Away Message Container...id like to note that the one that GAIM provides is almost exactly the same, and therefore gets my vote. Trillian has an away message container but they it was implemented and made in such an idiotic way that its the ONE thing that steers me away from the software, besides its memory hogging.
what else...
Font configuration
And other favorite features i cant think of off the top of my head.
There are a few it lacks from the Official client, whether useful or not:
Expressions (boo-hoo)
AIM Greetings button (boo-hoo)
AIM Games (boo-hoo)
Talk
Video
and some others i cant think of off the top of my head.
Then there are features that GAIM has that the Official client doesnt have (which are usually standard will all the new multi-network IM softwares these days):
Plugin support
Smiley set importing
Tabbed IM windows
Chat Logging
and some others, of course...
Then there are a few features that are exclusive to GAIM, from my understanding:
Buddy Pounce (offline messaging)
...nothing else is coming to mind at the moment...but you get the point...the software is loaded.
The GUI is nice. The installer comes with a skin called "Wimp" which is meant to mimc the Windows look and feel. It does it very nicely.
The only problem i had with the GUI is that scrolling was a bit sluggish in every version i used, but that may be because my computer is not up to par with today's standards.
Independent of what skin you have, the GUI blends many different clients into one...you have the Official AIM client, with the list and the group headers, then you have the iChat look with the user buddy icons in the buddy list, then there are the network icons as well, and the away message also appears under the names of people who are away. Its really nice to look at. I can't recall, though, if there are any options ot turn any of those things off.
Its very easy to setup.
First time users will need to download the package that includes GTK. Im not a linux user so im not completely familiar with what GTK, but its required.
Included in the installer is the Wimp theme, as i mentioned, which wasnt there in earlier versions...so no extra downloads there.
It also comes with a list of default plugins which i think are necessary. I think a few other plugins should be added too (e.g. Extended Preferences), but its not hard to download them and implement them. Implementing smiley sets could not be any easier. Load up GAIM, download the smileys you want, open the options/settings window, and DRAG the file in...very neat functionality.
Because its kind of sluggish on my machine Im sticking with the Official AIM client until i get a new computer.
But i highly recommend this software for anyone looking for a multi-networked client.
The fact that its free and open source makes it all the better. |
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