Hey All,
So I know a lot of us use IRC as a real-time link between us, but what other programs do you use and why?
My Main chat "medium" is AIM. Most of my friends have AIM Screen Names, so I'm always signed in when I'm online. IMHO, AIM is light-years ahead of the others in terms of ease-of-use, and it just has more users.
I also have MSN and Yahoo! messager handles. I use these because a few people I know use one or the other, but not AIM. Yahoo! message has the added benefit of giving me notices when I have mail (my Yahoo! address is my primary one).
I have used ICQ in the past, but do not know anyone who uses it now, so have not used it in quite a while.
As mentioned before, I've just gotten into IRC solely because it's were we get together to play Op2.
Instead of having all these programs open, though, I use Trillian (
http://www.trillian.cc). Trillian allows you to log in to all 5 mediums at once. It does have some downsides (you lose some of those special features in each medium that are cool but rarely used), but having only one program and one contact list, that all look the same is good for continuity. You don't have to check multiple contact list windows just to see who's online.
Trillian Basic is Free, and that's what I use. Trillian Pro is $25 and comes with a year's worth of Updates. Trillian Pro has better support for the special features in the other mediums, especially AIM's Buddy List Info feature. It also accepts Plugins for other mediums like Jabber, and a host of other useful and useless plugins. Both Trillian Basic and Pro are skinnable, so you can customize the look and feel.
Sure, I may get hassled in the IRC chat room because "Poor Kal is using Trillian," but I don't see it that way. :-)
