The Pidgin Messenger (formally known as GAIM) is a Free Instant Messenger Program containing a bunch of Messengers All in one little application. So you don’t need to have a Yahoo Messenger, IRC, GTalk, AIM, MSN etc opened up on your machine at once. This makes your system less cluttered, avoiding too many System Resources being wasted, because you have only one program instead of many messengers opened at once.
It includes all the functionality that most messengers have such as;
- Spell Checking
- File Transfers
- Buddy Notifications
- Allows a lot of Plugins to do all kinds of things.
- One chat window with Multiple Tab Functionality on it for each of the contacts you are talking to.
- Mail Notifications
- and more…
One thing the Pidgin lacks in the current version (2.5.1) is the lack of Video Chatting. You can’t really use the Webcam with the current version of Pidgin. May be with the future versions, this could be supported too.
Pidgin Download
Visit http://www.pidgin.im/ to find the Pidgin Download Links for Windows/Linux. Pidgin 2.5.1 is capable of connecting to AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, XMPP, ICQ, IRC, SILC, SIP/SIMPLE, Novell GroupWise, Lotus Sametime, Bonjour, Zephyr, MySpaceIM, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ all at once. It is written using GTK+.
Configure Pidgin Messenger
Once you download the Pidgin Client, you need to set it up to work with different Messenger Accounts. Here are the steps to get you started;
1. To add an Account: Click Accounts -> Manage Accounts -> Add to see the Screen Below.
2. Choose Account: Choose your Messenger Account type from the Huge Drop down of Supported Messengers.
3. Authentication Details: Enter your Username, Password, Local Alias and Click Save. You are DONE.
It has a lot of people that aid in its development since its OPENSOURCE.
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