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Features
- Editor's Rating:
- Average User Rating:
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Downloads:
537,574
- Requirements:
Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP
- Limitations:
No limitations
- Date Added:
July 19, 2006
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Previous Versions:
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
- "Gaim becomes Pidgin"
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, now renamed Pidgin. Like Trillian, Fire, and other third-party IM clients, this open-source messaging application lets you access multiple IM networks from one window, including lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu.
Pidgin's biggest change is the redesigned interface. The Buddy List can be viewed in Basic or Advanced mode, and the most important features, including the Plug-in List, have been graduated from the Preferences window into their own panes. Twenty-two plug-ins come prepackaged as Pidgin repositions itself as a highly extensible chat client.
The IM features are unimpeachable: smileys (you can find tons of emoticons on the developer's site), file transfers, and multiperson 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. Pidgin also gets lots of intangibles right: logging and time-stamping, for instance, are well-executed and easy to access. However, it lacks IP telephony and video conferencing, and there are still some bugs--most notably in the Help menu. Still, Pidgin remains a highly recommended messenging app.
Most popular Chat downloads
- 61,142 downloads 1. Windows Live Messenger
- 32,743 downloads 2. Trillian
- 27,683 downloads 3. Yahoo Messenger
- 18,827 downloads 4. MSN Messenger (Windows 98/Me)
- 13,027 downloads 5. WebcamMax
- See all Chat downloads
User reviews of Gaim 1.5
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 180 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 12 user reviewsSee all 12 user reviews
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1 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Gaim 1.5
"SO IT CRASHES why the FIVE STARS"
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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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Gaim 1.5
"Crashed every time I tried to use it"
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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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Gaim 1.5
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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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Gaim 1.5
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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Version: Gaim 1.5
Pros: For all of you saying msn is crashing, upgrade to gaim 2.0 beta 5, they fixed it.
- See all 12 user reviews Write review
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