Anybody have a suggestion for a multi-platform IM client?

[wiley]

Just wondered if anyone has recommendations for a good IM client. I've used MSN Messenger up until now, but would like to communicate with other friends on Yahoo, etc.

[Darius Wey]

There are two well-known ones out there: Trillian and Messenger2.

Trillian is generally well-respected and has been in the market for longer. I'd go for that if you want a good multi-IM client.

There are also other ones such as Oligo but are less widely used.

Trillian: http://www.trillian.cc
Messenger2: http://www.messenger2.com

[Falstaff]

My client of choice is Gaim, (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/) which has been the #1 download on Sourceforge for as long as I can remember (or at least top 5). It's free and open-source, has a lot of plugins, connects to ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and IRC, supports aliases, tabbed chat windows, and more, you can check the site for more details. I think this is the best IM software I've used, only complaints are that file transfer is spotty and there's a lack of skins, though neither are important to me, just nice to have.

[JTWise]

Trillian Pro user here. Great program, rock solid. Try the free version and see if you like it. I will tell you that pro is great as it adds some wonderful plug-ins (like RSS Feeds). Also, keep an eye on their site for the next couple of weeks. Version 3 is about to be released in beta.

Before swtching to Trillian, I was a Jabber user. Some of the international servers allow all services. More info can be found at Jabber.org.

As for GAIM, I would really suggest trying it out. It is a rapidly maturing product. I played with it for a bit, but enjoyed trillian more, although I think that is just personal preference.