After last night's crash, I was quite surprised how many people don't seem to know about alternatives to MSN. I thought I'd take the time to list a few alternative instant messenger programs...as I said in another thread, it's great to know some of these and have an account on them in case MSN goes tits up. I also thought it'd be a great way for others to suggest other alternative chat programs ICQ - This is a bloody old one . But I can say it's just as reliable, if not more, than MSN. Only problem is that the accounts work by numbers rather than screen names or email addresses, so it can be a bit confusing at first. AOL Instant Messenger - I can't say I've used this much, but it seems fairly popular. Anyone care to reveal a little more about it? Yahoo IM - The one I used before discovering MSN . I'm trying to remember my screen name right now... Oh, before I finish, a quick shout out for another chat program called Trillian. This merges MSN, AIM, Yahoo IM, mIRC and ICQ into a single program window. Sleek interface, apprently easier on the RAM than running five programs at once, and easy to chat in. The only problem is that some of the smilies have different code to their MSN alternatives, so the odd smilie or two won't have the desired effect. (I wrote this last night, and noticed Jaz already mentioned Trillian in his Microsoft thread, but I thought I'd still mention it as a second opinion ) MSN crashes aren't frequent, but when they happen they're annoying. If we all had some alternative, the annoyance would be far less...annoying
Time was when everyone used to be on ICQ. MSN's a bit of a late comer. And don't even get me started on IRC!!!! AIM's got less bells 'n' whistles than ICQ, so it comes down to a matter of personal preference really.
Trillian is a program that merges MSN, AIM, Yahoo IM, mIRC and ICQ into one program. You can still do the important stuff like file transfers and webcam/audio chats, but the interface is different (prettier, IMHO) and stuff like nudges won't work (thank goodness for that ). Bonus points if you can tell me where the name Trillian comes from
I would use Trillian but the university have blocked certain ports on the network which trillian uses. Trillian is great, tabbed message conversations and a fairly reasonable upgrade price if you want the full version. Gaim is also a nice program, though still far behind trillian unfortunately. For Mac and Linux users, try Amsn. Mmmmmmmmm.. trillian.
i use trillian. its awsome. however if msn goes down because its intergrated you cant access msn on trillian either. but yahoo etc still work. i use icq, yahoo, aol and msn all on trillian and all off trilian. theyre all ok, aol is my least favourite
be specific dude! Trillian is the name given to Tricia MacMillan after Zaphod Beeblebrox persuades her to come away with him on his starship 'the heart of gold' a few weeks before the Earth gets destroyed... yay go Trillian!
I used to be really big on IRC way back when... and I used ICQ sometimes at work and to message about the online games I played. But I never use chat anymore, just forums & email.
I like it. IRC is great. The problem is the dumbing down of the internet. Nobody's prepared to invest the time in anything with a learning curve these days
For teenhelp's chatroom we had a nice program called "SigmaChat" donated. So where other sites are subjected to attacks from IRC script kiddies, they can't even begin to start attacking our java chatroom. I like IRC though.
Yayay IRC is great! I've been using it for a few years and it's my favourite... Too bad I can only use it with my Finnish friends, as everyone else I know always says "What's IRC?" or "Oh, that old thing?"...
The only one I use and TRUST is Yahoo. But, THANKS for posting the links so that people have a choice. The Hippy Chat is IRC based in fact.
Someone else mentioned Gaim already. I haven't seen Miranda or IM2 mentioned. They are also multi-client messenger applications that combine aol, msn, yahoo, icq, and more messenger clients. For those interested in checking them out here are their homepages http://miranda-im.org and http://www.im2.com/index.php As for Trillian...I'm not too fond of the free version. I've been using Pro for a while and love it. If you're interested in getting a free version of Trillian Pro just send me a PM.
Actually, that's wrong In the book, and in the radio series I think, Zaphod meets Trillian before he steals the Heart Of Gold.
