IM app options

[Funkstar]

Whats the deal with third party IM apps these days?

I know a lot of people use network agnostic programs, but i haven't looked into them for years.

I use MSN mainly, but my brother uses Skype (to speak to his gf in Finland) and my mum got Yahoo! invite from her sister.

I have to admit, once i removed all the rubbish using the Mess.be patch, MSN is very easy to use works well. What are the decent alternatives? I'd rather not have to pay to register, especially if there isn't a trial of the pay version i can have a go with first.

thanks for any pointers

[Dav0s]

gaim is the best tbh, give it a go, im sure u will like it

[mike_w]

I use GAIM.

[ikonia]

doesn't do skype

[directhex]

doesn't do skype

nothing other than skype does

[ikonia]

exactly, so his request of an all in one that includes skype is not going to happen, which is why I didn't offer the suggestion of gaim, or anything else.

[Funkstar]

fair enough, i didn't realise that no third party apps could use Skype.

I'll take a look at Gaim in the near future.

I installed Live Messenger last night. Not too bad, doesn't have nearly as much rubbish turned on by default as 7.5 did, only one advert at the bottom of the main window.

thanks for the suggestion.