Gaim 1.5

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Editor's Rating:
4.0 stars
Average User Rating:
4.0 stars (out of 162 votes) Rate it!
Downloads:
460,231
Requirements:
Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Limitations:
No limitations
Date Added:
July 19, 2006
Previous Versions:

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Publisher's description of Gaim 1.5

From Pidgin:

Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM (Oscar and TOC protocols), ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr networks.

Gaim users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time.

Gaim supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer (coming soon), away messages, typing notification, and MSN window closing notification. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, iconify on away, and more.

Version 1.5.0 offers various account bug fixes and limited file transfer support.

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Editor's review of Gaim 1.5

4.0 stars
""

Your mother uses AOL Instant Messenger. Your spouse prefers MSN. Your office insists on Yahoo. What are you going to do? You could run all those chat clients at once, or you could use Gaim. Like Trillian, Fire, and other third-party IM clients, this open-source messaging application lets you access multiple IM networks from one window. It supports all the big IM networks, plus lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu. The chunky buddy-list icons won't be to everyone's taste, but you can choose sleeker ones by unchecking the Show buddy list icons box in the Preferences menu. We also recommend the Bluecurve skin (but if skinning's your thing, Trillian is probably a better choice). You may call it a minus or a plus, but Gaim doesn't do much beyond instant messaging. You'll find no IP telephony, no video conferencing, and--hallelujah!--no advertising. As for the rest, Gaim does everything an IM client should: send smileys (you can find tons of emoticons on the developer's site), transfer files, and join chats. The Buddy Pounce feature lets you automatically perform certain actions (play a sound, execute a command, open an IM window) when a contact signs on or off. Gaim also gets lots of intangibles right: logging and time-stamping, for instance, are well-executed and easy to access. If Gaim doesn't get our highest recommendation, that's only because it doesn't have as many features as other messengers and isn't quite as polished. However, if pure IM is your thing, Gaim may well be your best choice.

User reviews of Gaim 1.5

Average user rating: 4.1 stars out of 162 votes
My rating: 0 stars Write review

Showing 5 of 12 user reviewsSee all 12 user reviews
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5 stars

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

Version: Gaim 1.5

"SO IT CRASHES why the FIVE STARS"

by lollipopman on December 27, 2006

Pros: Messenger is so much hasstle, it slows down the starting of a computer, and then uses slow Explorer FOR your hotmail account. Gaim uses Firefox to goto your mail, it allows instant access to mail, and reports when new messenges come. I have 2 hotmail accounts which are stored and I can check them both in a minute. You can chat with a messenger contact, this WORKS!!!

Cons: This is the Linux version I am talking about for Ubuntu. Which is free and works on wireless and installs easily, and has many other free programs.

PS NO ADVERTS TOO!

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1 stars

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

Version: Gaim 1.5

"Crashed every time I tried to use it"

by jekamo on November 2, 2006

Cons: It crashed every single time I tried to connect to MSN. 'GAIM has encountered a problem and needs to close' So it was effectively useless for me. Some minor points: it is nowhere near as intuitive as Trillian, and windows kept popping up all the time. It also took up 16.5 MB of disk space, which seems an awful lot. Finally, it does not come with an uninstaller, which is a minor annoyance. In summary, I'm very disappointed as I had heard good things about this program. I see that other reviews have admitted that it crashes every time it tries to connect to MSN, and have still rated it highly. Fair enough if you don't use MSN, but for me, that renders it basically useless. :(

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3 stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

Version: Gaim 1.5

"Good But Not For MSN Users"

by cosmicmunchkin on April 6, 2007

Pros: It's easy to use with good enough security, not spyware/adware, great custom themes and plug-ins but...

Cons: ...it crashed every time I tried to log into msn, so what's the point? There are 2 much better chat clients than this I recommend.

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4 stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

Version: Gaim 1.5

"Best multi-client IM"

by neonhomer on January 17, 2007

Pros: Simplicity. It's not over-the-top graphically like trillian, but does provide the functionality for the different IM protocols.

Cons: MSN issues. I think this is more of a MSN problem but i do get "switchboard" errors from time to time.

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4 stars

Version: Gaim 1.5

"Upgrade to gaim 2.0"

by Phlinx on November 21, 2006

Pros: For all of you saying msn is crashing, upgrade to gaim 2.0 beta 5, they fixed it.

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Gaim 1.5

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