Open-source Instant Messaging for Ubuntu: a Comparative Review
Pidgin, Gaim, Kopete: these days, there's a variety of different options for instant messaging (or IM, for short) for Linux distributions such as Ubuntu. they all connect to a variety of different protocols and offer plenty of advanced features, so which one should you use?
Pidgin and Gaim are basically the same program. For reasons that have a lot to do with naming rules laid out by America Online, the Gaim project recently decided to change its name to Pidgin. Pidgin offers the ability to connect to many different protocols, including the large ones such as AOL Instant Messaging (AIM), Yahoo, MSN, and Google Talk. It's really lightweight and supports tabbed conversation, timestamping, and buddy pounces. It also has a fully expandable plug-in interface which is useful for adding new functionality. Gaim is created to run with GTK, which comes with every Ubuntu installation and facilitates integration into the GNOME desktop manager.
Kopete has many of the same features Gaim has, but it is better integrated into the KDE desktop manager. The Kopete design focus is more based around the user interface, allowing users to display buddy pictures right in the buddy list and keeping IM from becoming too intrusive. It supports message encryption and archiving, and integrates into the KDE contact manager for a complete solution for instant messaging.
Mary Riley has been a Linux user for many years. Learn more at The Daily Ubuntu. You can find out more about Pidgin here.
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