what's the best Instant Messenger program?

My wife belongs to a yahoo group and enjoys the camaraderie of her friends. Some of them have AOL IM availability and she would like to join them when they start to IM each other. My problem rests with AOL. I loathe, despise and want nothing to do with them. However, if their IM program is ok, I'll download it for my wife to participate with her friends. What say you all? Is there a better mouse-trap that will enable her to interact with her friends online via IM and it not be an AOL product?

 

i personally use trillian you can use MSN-AOL-IRC and YAHOO messenger all in one client
http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/

 

i understand you hate AOL but AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) is free and widely used... i recommend it i know all my acquaintences use it

 

i use trillian also, but for some reason, i had a problem with it recognizing when i had people online that were in my buddy list with yahoo. we couldn't send messages back and forth. but i use trillian for aim and icq and i use yahoo im.

 

I agree with General_Lee_Stoned, Trillian is a great program and uses a lot less resources.

 

have you got the latest patch installed my yahoo works fine

http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/downloads/

 

A styrofoam cup and string

As much a pig as it is, I really like Messenger.

Probably bevause its very intuitive, and everyone I know uses it.

 

yep...using .74 w/ patch F

 

and they have 14 empty subdirectories..

<not even going there, backing off and logging off>