The other day I heard that AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) had come out with a new version. I’ve been using GAIM for quite a while because it’s open source and allows me to connect to AIM and Yahoo Messenger with one application. So I installed the latest versions of both programs to run them separately, see what’s new, and all that.

I very much like how AIM has a “Gadgets” plugin that includes the most frequently used applets. All you have to do is download the Gadgets file and run it, and it installs them all. Restart AIM and they’re live. Easy, painless, and now I can have my away message display whatever song I’m playing in WinAmp or iTunes (I prefer iTunes for now). Unlike the plugin for GAIM, which was convoluted and hard to work with just to try to get it working with iTunes. Just one click in AIM and there it is.

Yahoo, on the other hand, gave me FITS! (no pun intended). When I downloaded Yahoo Messenger, it automatically installed several other Yahoo programs without asking and without giving me the option to avoid them. I think it said something somewhere about the Yahoo Toolbar, which I didn’t want and figured I’d uninstall after getting Messenger. So I did that, but there were THREE other programs besides the toolbar, like an Install Manager and Yahoo Browser Services. I didn’t want all those! And as I uninstalled them (I think it was the Browser Services), it REBOOTED MY COMPUTER! No questions, no warnings, or anything. All of a sudden my music stopped, then things started shutting down.

HOW RUDE!!

I’m guessing that a major turnoff for consumers and having them drop a few pegs in my respect for them wasn’t exactly something they were shooting for.

[tags]instant messager, AIM, messenger, yahoo, GAIM, IM[/tags]