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What is the best instant messaging client?

What is the best instant messaging client?

  • iChat

    Votes: 9 14.5%

  • Messenger for Mac

    Votes: 5 8.1%

  • Mercury Messenger

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • aMSN

    Votes: 1 1.6%

  • Adium

    Votes: 42 67.7%

  • Not listed above (tell us what is it)

    Votes: 5 8.1%
  • Total voters
    62
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Dec 10, 2008
22,165
582
Finland
So what is the best one? It would be nice to hear why it's best.

If there's no option for your choice tell us what you use.
 
I think it depends entirely depends what service(s) you use. Or, more to the point, what everyone else uses.

iChat is useless in the UK. NOBODY uses AIM. NOBODY.

Currently Adium actually has all the features Messenger for Mac has and does it in a better program too.

If I were to pick one, I would say Skype. It's the only service-built client that is cross platform and very good. I just wish more people used it :)
 
I prefer Google Video Chat (plugin). Yahoo Messenger is in second place.

The Mac version of Skype has noticeably worse voice and video quality than the above two.
 
well if for ichat they added more messanger besides aim i think it would be num ber one but the only one tht is good right now is aduim
 
Here in Canada, everyone uses MSN Messenger (now called Windows Live Messenger). The best application I've found for MSN on OS X would have to be aMSN. Yes, it's ugly, even with skins designed to replicate the Windows MSN Messenger, but it comes closest to replicating the Windows version when it comes to features. It's the only one I've found so far that supports all of the more minor features, like offline messaging, and ink drawings. Not even the Microsoft-made MSN client for OS X can do this stuff yet, which is pretty disappointing since it seems to be the most aesthetically pleasing for a long-time Windows user, and has more of a Mac feel than aMSN.
 
I don't know that I would say it's the best but everyone I know uses Yahoo Messenger for Mac. I personally like it because it lacks much of the bloat of the Windows version. I can happily do without the audibles and other junk. I tend to bounce between it and Adium. I also use iChat to video conference with family members.
 
Depends on what you want and the circumstances.

If you use AIM, and want to video chat, AND the other person is using iChat, too (iChat-to-AIM video chat is unreliable at best), then iChat tops them all, no question.

However, if any of those conditions are not met, then I'd say Adium.
 
I voted for Adium, but really it is an IM manger, not the client itself. It's easy to confuse the two, but MSN, YIM and AIM are the services themselves, Adium is just the carrier. In light of that the list is a bit confusing, but I see the point of it.

Adium, but to clarify, I have both YIM and AIM accounts.
 
If iChat had more customizable settings, it would be the best client out there. Still, it is my favorite over Adium.
 
Adium. Allows you to use pretty much any messaging client and allows you to customize it much more than any other program.
 
I use Adium for everything except screen sharing. I need iChat for that. I try to help out friends who are new mac users with it, and it turns out that people who have had their computers for months have never run updates.:eek:

Anyway, I use Adium mostly for its Facebook abilities, which while convenient, are not perfect.
 
Other than the obvious why doesn't ichat support msn IM. With so many people using it would it not make sense to add msn support?
 
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