Best IM Program

I know it’s an opinionated question, but what is the best Instant Messaging software? Here’s a brief opinion of mine on each of the main ones:

AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)

I don’t like it. I think the message windows are scruffy, the ‘buddy list’ is cramped and it has a Windows 95 feel to it. What do I mean by that? It just looks out of date. I can’t put my finger on it, but the colours are ‘jagged’ and the send icon looks like something out of Microsoft Bob. It does the job if you want to talk to a friend (sorry; buddy) quickly, but I personally think there’s better. Overall rating: 3.1 out of 5. Yes, I did give it that score because of a certain operating system it looks like it should belong in.

YIM (Yahoo! Instant Messenger)

Not bad, but not my favourite. The GUI’s much nicer than AIM’s, the contact table’s more spaced out and it has some decent and unique features; such as the Yahoo! Avatar – an animated alter ego of yourself in which you customize to suit your personality and mood, and LAUNCHcast radio where you can create your own radio station and choose the music it plays (and YIM has the ability to display which song you happen to be listening to at the time in replacement of your personal status). Negatives however include the fact you can’t easily personalize your display name (for example; my Yahoo! ID is ‘curlibear’ and therefore in a conversation, that, or my real name, is what will be displayed). Overall rating: 4 out of 5. It’s better than AIM, but there’s still something missing.

MSN Messenger / Windows Live Messenger

MSN would probably be at the top of my list. To contact someone, all you need to know is their e-mail address (none of this ‘ID: curlibear’ stuff which is, in my opinion, unnecessary), which is an immediate bonus. The conversations themselves are very customizable. You can change the background of the window and the colour themes, there are large display picture icons that you can upload yourself, including the opportunity to purchase an animated picture, and you can change your display name to anything you want (eg. your favourite quote, lyrics from your favourite song or your nickname). There are many new features to it too, such as the personal message system, the WMP plug-in (where MSN displays what you are currently listening to in replacement of your personal message) and the new ability to send messages whilst appearing offline (Windows Live Messenger only). Disadvantages include the unreliability of it. I’ve been unable to sign in to two of my accounts for about a month now. Why? No idea; but it’s not just happened to me. Ollie was unable to sign in to his Gmail account for a long time, coming across the same error messages as myself. Another disadvantage would be the fact that although Windows Live Messenger has just come out of beta, it’s still very buggy. For example; Ollie and I were talking the other day whilst both appearing offline, and our conversation was interrupted by the fact that our messages weren’t being sent correctly. I actually received one of Ollie’s messages around 2 hours after he signed out, and he received several of mine the next day. Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5. Since the release of Messenger Plus!, MSN has almost every feature thinkable, making the GUI and general usage of this program very positive. But the occasional faults are disrupting and should be sorted out.

Google Talk

Clean, fresh and straight to the point. Google Talk doesn’t beat around the bush with usernames, fonts or colour-coding – it just does the job. And it does it well. Every time you receive a message, you get a pop-up which is useful if you’re in the middle of something else and can’t switch windows immediately, and if you’re using another computer, you can chat using Google Talk through your Gmail account on any web browser. It’s got a very good ability to make and receive phone calls too, which easily competes with other similar programs. Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5. Very reliable Instant Messenger, but extremely basic.

ICQ

I don’t understand ICQ at all. I had very high expectations of it after reviewing its website, but was shocked by it once I installed it and registered. There wasn’t one thing I liked about it at all – even its logo reminds me of the AIM send icon. Overall rating: 1 out of 5. And that’s being generous.

Trillian

I thought this was ingenious when I discovered it a couple or so years ago. An IM service which lets you talk to your contacts from MSN, YIM, AIM and ICQ all in one. Extremely handy if you have friends from all over, but the UI needs working on. The main contact list isn’t easily maximized, you don’t have a pop-up telling you when someone has signed in (all you get is a faint doorbell sound which is easily not heard) and like AIM, it’s quite scruffy. Overall rating: 4 out of 5. Clever idea and it works; but it looks very amateur.

Winner Overall:

It’s a tie between Google Talk and MSN. Both winners for different reasons; MSN has what Google Talk doesn’t and Google Talk has what MSN doesn’t. If they put them together, we’d have a winning IM program.