I installed the instant messaging client Gaim a few days ago. I had been using Yahoo's IM for several years, but I thought I would give Gaim a try because it can connect to numerous IM networks, including Yahoo's, ICQ's, MSN's, Jabber's, Gadu-Gadu's, Napster's, and Zephyr's. It runs on Windows and Linux. It features a spell-check add-on, aspell, which I can use.
I've noticed a few bugs on the Windows version, but it is fairly usable. For example, the window title bar stops flashing when new messages are received after a while. This can result in me not noticing that I have just been sent a message because I'm using another application and turn off the message received noise. Another failing is in not implementing Yahoo's buzz fully. Instead of making a ding-dong noise, it simply writes "Buzz!!!" to the IM chat window. I normally turn off all noise except for the ding dong, so that people can still reach me when I'm in the room but not staring at the screen. I hope they fix this. There appears to be some facility for writing plug-ins, so perhaps I'll do that if I'm desperate.
Posted by seander at May 24, 2004 12:20 PM