- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/NT
- Date added: January 07, 2010
- Total Downloads: 614,766
- Downloads last week: 1,330
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 234 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Your mother uses AOL Instant Messenger. Your spouse prefers MSN. Your office insists on Yahoo. What are you going to do? You could run all those chat clients at once, or you could use Gaim, now renamed Pidgin. Like Trillian, Fire, and other third-party IM clients, this open-source messaging application lets you access multiple IM networks from one window, including Google Talk and MySpaceIM as well as lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu.
Pidgin's biggest change is the redesigned interface. The Buddy List can be viewed in Basic or Advanced mode, and the most important features, including the Plug-in List, have been graduated from the Preferences window into their own panes. Twenty-two plug-ins come prepackaged as Pidgin repositions itself as a highly extensible chat client.
The IM features are unimpeachable: smileys (you can find tons of emoticons on the developer's site), file transfers, and multiperson chats. The Buddy Pounce feature lets you automatically perform certain actions (play a sound, execute a command, open an IM window) when a contact signs on or off. Pidgin also gets lots of intangibles right: logging and time-stamping, for instance, are well-executed and easy to access. However, it lacks IP telephony and video conferencing, and there are still some bugs--most notably in the Help menu. Still, Pidgin remains a highly recommended text-only messaging app.
Publisher's description
From Pidgin :Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim) is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for BSD and Windows. It is compatible with AIM (Oscar and TOC protocols), ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr networks. Pidgin users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, and iconify on away.
What's new in this version:
Version 2.6.5 includes build-time fixes for Solaris and fixes an issue allowing a remote user to download arbitrary files from a libpurple client.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 234 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 5 user reviewsSee all 5 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Pidgin 2.6.5
"Still the best IM client, except one major issue"
Pros: Clean, easy to install, ability to add multiple IM clients
Cons: No encryption
Summary: I've been using Pidgin for years and have generally not had any problems...until I installed 2.6.5. Prior to that, I was on 2.5.7. I only upgraded my version because of some issues with YIM booting me off (I now believe it might have had something t... read more >>
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Version: Pidgin 2.6.5
"A great application which avoids unnecessary clutter"
Pros: Clean, slim and reliable
Cons: None I have discovered yet
Summary: Fantastic and 'best of breed'
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Version: Pidgin 2.6.5
"Best IM client I have used. Period."
Pros: Easy to set up. Ability to merge multiple contacts. Simple. Just works.
Cons: Not really pretty. Have to set-up on each machine separately.
Summary: This is a great IM client for anyone looking for more than the standard AIM or whatever, especially if you are using multiple IM accounts.
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Version: Pidgin 2.6.5
Pros: Everything same what Trillian do but it allows you customize the plug-ins, etc. It support all! Free! Plus it's lighter and faster than Trillian.
Cons: Little confusing to the first-time user but it's not too bad.
Summary: Thank you Pidgin!
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Version: Pidgin 2.6.5
Pros: multiple IM clients in one! not too bloated either!
Cons: if it only if could do skype..sending files fails i think not sure.. and same with video and audio. free and open source ftw!
Summary: say good bye to AIM, yahoo, MSN, etc because Pidgin is beast!
- See all 5 user reviews Write review
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