I use iChat but I want to talk to an ICQ user. Should I use Proteus, Fire, Adium, Trillian, or another program? I'm running Panther 10.3.9. The other person has a PC. Want to know what will work best. Thanks for your thoughtful advice.
Well, Trillian is a PC IM client (and a very good one), so you can't run that on your Mac. My personal favorite is Adium X (www.adiumx.com). You may have to download a few clients to pick for yourself.
Also, if I'm not mistaken, iChat supports ICQ users. You should be able to add their ICQ# to your contact list in iChat.
I definitely prefer Adium X, too. It looks nice, is stable, can be skinned, etc. Also, it's built from open source code, so you have easy access to developers and don't have to be roped into a proprietary system.
If you are set on getting a new client I'd suggest www.adiumx.com . However, iChat does support ICQ contacts who you add like any other contact replacing their account name with the icq number.
Thanks to all your very thoughtful and kind posts. Have tried the simple route. Added the Icq data into my iChat. Just sent my AIM account information to my friend. Now to see how if goes.