chat clients - which one should i use?

[Heart Break Kid]

ok so i know my mac comes with iCHAT but the thing is i dont have AIM nor do i like AOL. im using MSN right now but i dont wanna run MSN YAHOO and ICQ. so how bout one that does it all?

 

[yzedf]

take your pick

http://www.whiterabbits.com/MacNetJournal/stories/2002/03/14/osXChatClientsSoManyProgra.html

I seem to remember people recommending fire the most.

 

[losfp]

I like proteus. I used fire for a while, but proteus can do multiple chats with different people in the one window (selectable via the drawer). if fire can do that, I didn't find it.

 

[Heart Break Kid]

ill give proteus a shot

just tried using yahoo for mac and theres no chat option - like chat rooms

 

[MrMacMan]

All of them is Proteus, but for your only AIM needs Adium all the way.

 

[mac15]

adium for aim is all I need

 

[bombensington]

i use multiple clients, and i really like proteus the best. i prefer it much more than fire.

i like, how losfp mentioned, that you can have just one window instead of a bunch littering up your screen.

i also like the configurability of it...that is a big plus, too.

 

[eyelikeart]

I've never understood why the need to run multiple chat clients.

I feel one is plenty, and running around on 2 or more just gets confusing and makes u scattered.

I'm running only AIM because iChat is flakey and does not allow for animated avatars.

 

[AlphaTech]

I use both Fire and iChat. Fire for Yahoo and one AIM identity and iChat for the other AIM identity. I could use Fire for my ICQ id, but I use it so infrequently that it's just as easy to launch the ICQ app when I feel like it.

I prefer to have one chat window per person. THAT way, I know when someone wants to converse, or leaves, without having to sift through drawers. Also, since I'm on the 15.2" TiBook, there is plenty of screen space for several windows, if I choose.

Fire, also, has provisions for ALL the chat types, so you can use it for everything if you want to. There was a version or two that had issues when ICQ updated/changed some of their server side stuff, but that was resolved with an update and the issue hasn't returned.

 

[pdham]

I just downloaded proteus but it wont let me add contacts... i click on "add contacts" and nothing happens... hmmm

 

[bombensington]

Originally posted by pdham
I just downloaded proteus but it wont let me add contacts... i click on "add contacts" and nothing happens... hmmm

have you added accounts? you have to do that first before you can add contacts.

Originally posted by eyelikeart
I've never understood why the need to run multiple chat clients. I feel one is plenty, and running around on 2 or more just gets confusing and makes u scattered.

i agree, i would prefer to use only one...but some of my friends are die-hard yahoo chatters, so i'm stuck using it. it's actually not too bad with proteus, the layout is really nice so it's not confusing.

 

[redAPPLE]

are these chat clients also cross-plattform?

know what... AIM should be cross-plattform, right? just need a cross-plattform, with voice chat capability chat client.