A newer version of Pidgin is available.
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Features
- Editor's Rating:
- Average User Rating:
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Downloads:
547,051
- Operating Systems:
Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT, Windows 98
- Additional Requirements:
Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP
- Limitations:
No limitations
- Date Added:
May 04, 2007
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Previous Versions:
Publisher's description of Pidgin 2.0
From Pidgin:Pidin (formerly known as Gaim) is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, 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.
Gaim supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer (coming soon), away messages, typing notification, and MSN window closing notification. 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, iconify on away, and more.
Version 2.0 revamps the interface, adds a new account-management system, revises the status system, and adds a Tango-based icon theme.
Editor's review of Pidgin 2.0
stars
- "Gaim becomes Pidgin"
- Version reviewed: Pidgin 2.0
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 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 messenging app.
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User reviews of Pidgin 2.0
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 206 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 15 user reviewsSee all 15 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Pidgin 2.0
"Pidgin is a great alternative to Trillian"
Pros: Pidgin is a great multi-IM account client. I can use AOL, MSN, and Yahoo and it has many features and plug-ins. Also, it's fast and lightweight.
Cons: Doesn't have all the features of some IM clients, but it's a small price to pay.
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Pidgin 2.0
"Best for anyone who needs more than one IM network."
Pros: Pidgin supports a huge amount of IM networks. All the ones I use and many I've never heard of (To list them all: AIM, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Novell GroupWise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Nullprpl, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP [also known as Jabber], and Yahoo!). It does a good job with the drag and drop buddy icon changing, buddy stacking (you can compile the same person's AIM, Yahoo!, and Jabber account all into one buddy for example), and away message saving and changing. Pidgin also has it's famous Buddy Pounces which can be useful if you're using a Meebo Me widget. Pidgin comes with a variety of plugins to customize it that can be turned on and off. Pidgin has shown tons of improvement in a short amount of time, so I can expect it will make up for it's few blunders soon enough.
Cons: Pidgin's main problem is lack of video and voice support. It also doesn't support certain extra goodies like MSN winks (good in my opinion, I hate those winks). There's a little file transfer trouble every once in a while, and MSN multiple person chat doesn't work well, but these are all the problems I can think of.
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8 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Version: Pidgin 2.0
Pros: I've tried many combo im clients, and so far i like this the best. it's a great imrovemnet over gaim 1.5. I would use trilian, but a lot of my friends use google talk, so i need the jabber compatibility, which you have to pay for in trillian
Cons: it isn't amzingly good looking, but it works
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Pidgin 2.0
Pros: Starts up very fast, connects to many networks, is very stable and has a nice looking interface. Runs just as fast on windows as it does on linux. Very nice piece of software, large improvement over Gaim.
Cons: No Voice or Video, file transfers don't always work (Happens now and again with every multiprotical client though)
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Version: Pidgin 2.0
"An appealing interface marred by spotty performance"
Pros: Pidgin looks pretty slick and it's both intuitive and simple to use. It offers access to many IM services and I didn't have any problems with the basic chat operations. There is dictionary/spelling support and some other neat-in-concept features that, for me, would make this one to watch, but not necessarily one to use right now, because...
Cons: Unfortunately for an app that seems to have a lot of potential, I ran into a number of annoying little problems that don't seem to plague the more robust-feeling Trillian. Specifically, the software occasionally got stuck and would not shut down; sounds did not always function; changes made to contacts would sometimes take and sometime disappear; among other such annoyances. If competitors such as Trillian were not so solid, these nags might be worth enduring for this generally competent little IM client.
- See all 15 user reviews Write review
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