Is Adium the way to go (UK based)

[stevep]

Am I right in thinking that Adium is a good 'chat' choice for a UK user - I need to communicate with Windows users mainly. I've just searched the forum and it seems to be a popular choice, but I'm a real beginner in the world of instant messaging. Any words of advice welcome, thanks.

 

[Compile 'em all]

Yes, Adium is the way to go. Adium supports AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, and Jabber. So if your friends use any of these IM Protocols you should be fine.

 

[gloss]

Yes, Adium is the way to go. Adium supports AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, and Jabber. So if your friends use any of these IM Protocols you should be fine.

Don't forget Google Talk.

And for the record, it's the only multi-protocol chat client I've seen that supports GTalk. I haven't been able to find a single one on the PC besides the Google Talk client itself.

 

[stevep]

Wow, that was quick - thanks. Next dumb question (sorry) - which protocol would you recommend. I don't have a .Mac account, and just use a conventional adsl broadband connection with Tiscali, so I suppose Bonjour is the easiest, as I don't have to create an account. But will it talk to MSN users?

 

[gloss]

Wow, that was quick - thanks. Next dumb question (sorry) - which protocol would you recommend. I don't have a .Mac account, and just use a conventional adsl broadband connection with Tiscali, so I suppose Bonjour is the easiest, as I don't have to create an account. But will it talk to MSN users?

Hi Steve. You can create multiple accounts and log them on simultaneously. So you could hypothetically be on your AIM screenname, MSN, and Google Talk all at the same time. I do this with AIM and GTalk. I guess it really depends on what protocol the people you'd like to talk to are using.

 

[mkrishnan]

And for the record, it's the only multi-protocol chat client I've seen that supports GTalk. I haven't been able to find a single one on the PC besides the Google Talk client itself.

There are, although the free version of the most popular one (Trillian) does not support Jabber. GAIM and Psi and others do.

I also think Adium is a great choice on Mac. Proteus is another option; I haven't used it primarily because I've invested so much in using Adium, but it seems very nice.

 

[stevep]

Thanks Gloss, multiple accounts sound useful, I didn't realise that. I'll have a play with Google Talk and Bonjour for starters, and see how it goes. MacRumors to the rescue again - such a good forum.

 

[gloss]

Thanks Gloss, multiple accounts sound useful, I didn't realise that. I'll have a play with Google Talk and Bonjour for starters, and see how it goes. MacRumors to the rescue again - such a good forum.

I didn't use Google Talk for the longest time, but then I and my friend group realized that we all use Gmail anyway and suddenly found that GTalk was the easiest way to communicate. It was a stroke of genius for Google to incorporate it into their Gmail site.

Anyway, you're very welcome, and good luck with it. It's not terribly difficult to get set up, but if you haven't done it before you may need a bit of patience.