Dumping AIM

March 13, 2005 7:50 PM

So, now I want to dump AOL Instant Messenger, and convince all of my friends and relatives to do the same. I want something that isn't too fly-by-night, so I can be sure it'll last, and it's gotta have a little higher usability-quotient than I recall ICQ ever having. Ease of use on-par with AIM (so non-tech-savvy family can install it and set it up) is important, too. Any suggestions?
posted by Plutor to Computers & Internet (26 answers total)

Have you tried Trillian? Trillian
posted by SpecialK at 7:52 PM on March 13, 2005

(Click on the 'about trillian' link to actually learn what it is, their new home page sucks.)
posted by SpecialK at 7:53 PM on March 13, 2005

You could get Gaim. This will allow you to communicate with using many different messenging services at once.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 7:55 PM on March 13, 2005

Just remember that Trillian and GAIM are just another method of accessing the AIM service; ie, you're still using AIM, just with a different front-end (like using Firefox vs. IE; you're still accessing the same world-wide web). So, their terms of service will still apply.

Also, remember that ICQ is now not an option, seeing as ICQ now operates over the AIM network (they both use AOL's "Oscar" services).

That leaves MSN and Yahoo for the "mainstream" IM services. They're both ok, I guess. I use Trillian to connect to all of the IM services.

I guess the only other alternative would be Jabber, but I'm not a Jabber user.
posted by chota at 8:07 PM on March 13, 2005

Chota are you sure about ICQ using AIM's network? I can't confirm this, but I remember some time ago reading that ICQ's network is not intermingled with AIM's. If it is true, then AIM owns most of Asia's conversations as well since ICQ is the most popular IM there.
posted by timyang at 8:36 PM on March 13, 2005

You can use one of the several popular gaim plugins for encryption.

I'm looking at gaim-otr now. It seems like just the thing.
posted by Caviar at 8:50 PM on March 13, 2005

Miranda is working wonderfully for me. It's quite light.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 8:54 PM on March 13, 2005

Once you get mirc up and running, it's really easy. Simply create your own channel and voila, you have a chat.
posted by ashbury at 9:13 PM on March 13, 2005

I've thought of using GAIM in the past... but its install is daunting --- hell, I can't even figure out what I should be downloading!

I'm on OSX.

Suggestions?
posted by silusGROK at 9:41 PM on March 13, 2005

Adium X is built around GAIM and works on Mac OS X.
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:44 PM on March 13, 2005

timyang, at one point ICQ users could message back and forth with people on AIM. I'm not sure if that's still the case. In any case, the protocol is the same and they share common login servers.
posted by zsazsa at 9:53 PM on March 13, 2005

Forgive my pessimism, but I'm not sure that what you're looking for exists. I don't really see any reason to think that Yahoo or MSN are any more interested in privacy than AOL is. Jabber and IRC probably don't meet your usability requirement. Trillian is Windows-only, and I presume that at least some of your friends and family use another OS. GAIM-with-encryption-plugin is probably too hard for the non-tech-savvy to install and set up. (Now someone can remind me of the service that I'm forgetting about.)
posted by box at 10:28 PM on March 13, 2005

Jabber is just as easy to use as AIM once you get going - you can use GAIM for both. GAIM was simple to load on a PC. I believe you can also register for jabber through AIM - you just register a nickname at a jabber server, like jabber.org or myjabber.net. I'm actually registered at both, since they are known to go down occasionally, but rarely both at once.
posted by jb at 10:35 PM on March 13, 2005

Some of the previous posters don't know what they're talking about. Jabber is no more difficult to use than AIM. I'd say easier, in fact, since it doesn't bombard you with ads and too many features. Gaim and the pay version of Trillian both allow you to use Jabber (as well as AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, etc.).
posted by grouse at 12:14 AM on March 14, 2005

Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) will include Jabber support in iChat.
posted by AlexReynolds at 12:18 AM on March 14, 2005

Miranda has at least 2 encryption plugins listed. My knowledge of encryption is miniscule at best, but is "one-way" encryption possible? Such that the people I'm communicating with don't need to be running this as well?
posted by Jack Karaoke at 12:22 AM on March 14, 2005

I second the Jabber recommendation. Aside from IRC (which just isn't family-friendly), it's the only open IM network. And it's easy to use.

The Jabber network isn't run by anyone in particular. Like the web, and like email, anyone can set up their own Jabber server, and they often do.

All you need to get started is a Jabber client -- I like Psi on Windows, but there are friendlier clients out there -- and a Jabber server address.

For the latter, you can choose among many public servers. Your Jabber address becomes name@servername, eg. [e-mail]. (This may look "uncool" to you -- after all, all the other networks just use user names, right? -- but the naming notation is by design, and it's a powerful feature. Email would never have worked if everyone just had a simple user name instead of the @ address notation we all know and love.)

I recommend picking a server backed by an actual company, such as jabber.org, but you also need to think about what services the server provides. Many provide AIM, MSN, etc. connectivity; check the aforementioned list. Not all support group chat or SSL.

I also strongly recommend connecting with SSL (it's usually a simple checkbox in the setup window), which encrypts the communication.

Oh, and Jabber might seem a little crude right now because you have to hunt down a suitable server. In the name of openness, please put up with it. Jabber won't truly take root as long as people stick with the commercial, closed systems.
posted by gentle at 1:22 AM on March 14, 2005

Response by poster: I guess I should state that I'm trying to get off AIM not because I'm afraid that they'll steal my lame chats, but because I think their new TOS are wrong, and I'd like to contribute to a hypothetical decline-in-userbase as a result. chota definitely hit the nail on the head; I'm looking for a totally new network, not just a new client (in fact, I use gaim) or an encryption plugin.

That said, I was previously under the impression that Jabber was Just Another Many-Chat Client. I'll have to give it another look-see.
posted by Plutor at 4:41 AM on March 14, 2005

I'd go with Trillian and just encourage friends in family to use SecureIM with all their AIM nicks. Thus all your communications are encrypted and AOL can't read it.

You can also set Trillian to reject any AIM not using SecureIM.
posted by bkdelong at 6:00 AM on March 14, 2005

Tangentally, has anyone else noticed serious performance issues with the latest release of Trillian (Basic 3.1)? Specifically, when Trillian loads up on my XP SP2 home machine, it is painfully slow. Like, time-is-slowing-down slow.
posted by tpl1212 at 7:45 AM on March 14, 2005

Let us know how your Jabber experience goes Plutor. I have heard that you can tunnel through it to the other protocols, (meaning you wouldn't have to abandon your aim-holdout friends), but I haven't tried.

I recommend proteus over adium as a jabber client. The interface is much more mac-y (including iChat-like speech bubbles).
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:24 AM on March 14, 2005

Yes, try Jabber. It's simply good.

And Mac users everywhere should petition for encrypted iChat.
posted by gsb at 9:10 AM on March 14, 2005

I'm probably in the minority, but I like Yahoo. You can even voice chat with it and save on phone bills.
posted by deborah at 10:09 AM on March 14, 2005

Jabber's decentralized nature makes it unsuitable for casual chats with your friends, because you have to make sure they're all using the same server, or else you need to configure your client for multiple Jabber servers with all the corresponding UI headaches. Whereas the whole point of AIM is that everyone is using the same server; that's why people use it, because they can get to everyone using it.

Jabber is great within a company though, because it keeps your company's secrets inside its network. It's easy to dictate that everyone use the same server.
posted by kindall at 11:58 AM on March 14, 2005

I've never had any need to use only one jabber server or configure for multiple servers with the several jabber clients I've tried. Like email, the server is basically irrelevant -- it's just important that you have one. You do have to use the username@server format, but that's hardly a problem once you populate your buddy list.
posted by Utilitaritron at 8:10 PM on March 14, 2005

I'm trying to get my family members to use Qnext. Any thoughts about that from the more tech-savvy?
posted by jaronson at 3:47 PM on March 22, 2005