Decaflon

For PC I use Trillian but I've used pidgin before and I'd say it's REALLY good, I just decided to use something else for some reason :)

I checked out Trillian on wikipedia and seems to have much better and useful features on it. Plus i like the design more:)

Ever since I've started on Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim before the finalization of the AOL lawsuit), I've always stuck to it.

Compared against Trillian Pro, Pidgin is free BUT unlike Trillian, Pidgin doesn't have voice and video conferencing, for that I just rely on Skype instead. The best part about Pidgin is that you can use it from a thumbdrive which for me is the best thing. I can go to any computer with a net access and a USB port and never be far from all my instead messages.

So for me, if you can live with the slight minimalist interface. Pidgin is one of the best things out there for PC. Adium would be for a Mac, but of course, Adium is based of the Pidgin core so that says a lot.

I've decided to download and try out Trillian. So far i dont have any complaints.

I just got fed with msn messenger and was in need of a change. Plus it's more practical

Oh...I should mention that Trillian is a bit of a resource hog, at least compared to Pidgin. That's one of the reasons why I use Pidgin now.

Pidgin rocks, love the all the little options you get with it, like the preemptive screen that appears just before someone begins a chat with you...

I've always found Trillian to be rather ugly and, to be honest, not very intuitive. So when checking out alternatives this weekend, I actually decided to go for Pidgin at work. I'm installing it tomorrow, instead of GTalk.

At home, of course, it's Adium, but I noticed the two link to each other so to me that sounds rather promising.

I rarely use IM, when I do I use meebo, never tried pidgiin as I hate having things on my computer I don't need.

Pidgin (or I should say the libpurple library that Pidgin uses) currently doesn't support some of the more advanced MSN features (voice and video) but it's coming along.

If those aren't features you use, I'd suggest you check it out though. I use it all the time. You might find the lack of adverts quite refreshing.

The preemptive talk in Pidgin is one of the best plugins ever. Scares people half to death when I reply to them before they even finished their greetings. My reply...I always use the force. :)

Pidgin is a terrific piece of software. Supports multiple IM protocols and is extremely light weight. Or you can use the traditional AIM client. I don't recommend Trillian.

So whats wrong with Trillian?

Yeah, why wouldn't you recommend it? Details man, details... :)

I use Pidgin all the time on Ubuntu and prefer to use it on Windows too. The only problem I have with it is that file transfers for me personally, go slower on Pidgin that on say Windows Live Messenger, but I much prefer it over WLM. It has no adverts which is great. It is simple, back to basics, but a very good instant messaging program nonetheless.

The only problem I have with it is that file transfers for me personally, go slower on Pidgin that on say Windows Live Messenger

I always thought that Trillian was too hard to use and if I remember correctly it sorta messes up your system. If Trillian was the only piece of software out there I would use it but it is not so I use Pidgin.

That is strange Oli, I've never experienced that before, for me it is always faster and more reliable on WLM as often they fail on Pidgin... Very strange!

Been using Pidgin for about three days now and I love it.

Of course, I don't use IM other than for text messages, not Skype or other voice.

I also don't get how I appear to others sometimes, but I suppose I still have to figure that out.

I've been using Pidgin as my main IM program for quite a while now. I've tried most, if not all alternatives (Trillian, Miranda, aMSN, etc) but always return to it, because it ends up being the most simple one to configure, despite being very versatile in terms of protocol options.

It's not flawless, and I'd certainly like to see some improvements on the interface, but it's definitely one of the best IM programs out there.

Pidgin, it's simple, offer multiple protocols support and is without any flashing and disturbing stupidities...

Pidgin is good for minimalists. It is an all-inclusive messenger client with support for pretty much every major protocol, and even some I've never heard of. If you only want the basic feature of chat with minimal usage of system resources, go with Pidgin. Otherwise, stay with the first-party client. :)