Gaim 0.72 - behold the power of Open Source!
For a long time, I’ve been wanting to do a review of Gaim, but held off because I was intimidated. Why? Because there are so many features to this Instant Messaging (”IM”) program that documenting them all properly is a daunting task, and since I cannot help but be thorough, I wanted to wait. But it’s become quite a task in and of itself to tell people by literal word of mouth for the same exact reason. Thus, this review will be my answer whenever someone asks me about one of the best programs for any operating system I’ve Ever Used.
First, an introduction to the context and terminology (jargon). Gaim (pronounced “game”) is an IM program that can connect to various messaging protocols. A protocol is, in this sense, all the rules for transmitting data (in this case, IMs) over a network (again, in this case of course, the Internet). There are generally a couple of different protocols for each service, but so as not to be picking nits, I’ll refer to “service” and “protocol” interchangeably because no one but geeks like me care about the difference.
I’ve been a Linux junkie since January of 1998. Linux in a nutshell is a free, Open Source operating system that is very stable, UNIX-based, and whose learning curve from Windows or Macintosh is becoming less and less steep as time goes on. To put it in perspective, whereas I’ve had to reboot my Linux box once every month or so just for good measure and not for anything critical, often with Windows if you don’t reboot at least once or twice a week, MAX, it’ll crash or throw errors. Furthermore, there’s no Linux “virus” in the sense of a Windows “virus” … but I digress. Frequently.
Said all that to say this: back around 2000, when I started using Linux full-time as my favorite OS, I had to have an IM program to be able to talk to all my buddies. (For the sake of continuity, let’s just assume I had buddies.) So I found Gaim. Since that time it has grown and developed fantastically. Now in version 0.72 and due out with another release very soon, it has since expanded its horizons to include Windows-based computing environments (while retaining its Linux component, of course) and has myriad features for your messaging pleasure.
Okay, the grit
I will, of necessity of time, only go over the Windows version of Gaim. (Because generally everyone who knows enough to use Linux knows enough to use Gaim!)
1. Multiple protocols, virtually infinite accounts.
Gaim supports all of the following IM protocols:
Zephyr and Trepia support have existed before and may yet again. But the most relevant to American users will be the first two (or three, ::gag::). I have numerous screen names for the first two protocols; I can sign onto all of them at once, with Gaim, if I so choose.
2. No ads, no blinkies, no fluff. This one speaks for itself!
3. Logging. You can log, in HTML or plain text, every interaction you have with anyone, even to the point of logging everyone on your buddy list’s away, idle, and online states with time stamps and color-coding to boot. Big Brother may or may not be watching—but you sure are, with all that stuff!
4. Buddy List structure. You can choose whether to show numbers of buddies in your groups; whether to show groups in which no buddies are signed online; and even whether to show buddy icons in the buddy list! From the Gaim website, “The buddy list can optionally show your buddies’ buddy icons. This makes locating your buddies in a long list much easier. When buddy icons are shown in the list, a second line will provide more information about the buddy (status messages, idle times, warning levels, etc.)” Also, there is an option as to how to order your buddy list - unordered, or by online status, or by log size (the people you talk to the most on the top at all times).
5. Aliasing. Remember how I mentioned I had all those accounts? Well, several of my friends online are in the same situation, a different avatar for every occasion! If you want, you can group all of these screen names together so that, if you or your friends sign on with any or all of their screen names, one and only one name will pop up. Furthermore, there is an ability to have an alias for every screenname on your buddy list! Can’t ever remember those funky names like “Cut1eP1eXoXheehee” or whatever kind of ridiculous? Just right-click and give that one an alias!
6. Tabbed IM windows. You can have an arbitrary number of conversation windows open at any given time, and there is an option to put all your conversations on one tabbed window. Even where to put the tabs is optional! These guys thought about everything! There is a color-coding scheme for when a person is typing to you, when they’ve stopped, or when they’ve sent messages; and, of course, the obligatory sound scheme that can be easily disabled or changed with a few simple clicks of the mouse.
7. Themes. You can theme everything from the interface itself (make the Buddy List look all shiny and cute!) to the smileys. Come on, folks, let’s face it: AIM just doesn’t have enough smileys to express those particularly ambivalent and/or mixed emotions! You can download theme packs that will enable all sorts of different emoticons.
8. File transfer. A highly usable file transfer interface.
9. Buddy Pounce. If you’re using a protocol like AIM that doesn’t support offline messaging (or even if you are), you can set buddy pounces. At whatever event you specify (sign on, return from idle, go away, &c.), for any screen name, you can have Gaim pop up a conversation window, signal you with an alert, send a message, you name it. Excellent tool for those times when you want to say something quick to someone who checks their email once a month but can’t be there to tell them in realtime.
10. Different options for idle time. This is HUGE, folks. Let’s say you’re so highly esteemed among your multitudinous colleagues that you’re in danger of being bombarded with IMs every time you bump the mouse or come back from idle to check the weather or your favorite news site to see the goings-on. Or, if you just don’t want to talk to people but still want to be online. You can tell Gaim to figure idle time by Gaim usage—that is, from the times you send IMs to people—instead of Windows usage. So whereas with AIM you’re out of luck, Gaim will retain your idle state no matter what, unless you send an IM. This, of course, is optional, but it can help when you’re just not in the mood to talk (or in other, more sinister cases, of course—ahem).
11. Plugins. Auto-reconnect, system tray icon, history insertion, iconification-on-away, and several other useful tools come bundled with the Windows version to make Gaim more user-friendly.
Interface options. Let’s do a quick rundown of the features this thing offers, the ones that haven’t already been covered.
- Disable/enable graphical emoticons.
- Disable/enable timestamp on all messages.
- Disable/enable highlighting of misspelled words and auto-creation of hyperlinks.
- Ability to ignore colors, fonts, or font sizes (good for people that don’t want to try to read 6pt navy-on-black text).
- Various keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+{I/U/B} makes text italic, underlined, bold).
- Disable/enable Buddy List buttons (the fat ones that take up all the space, you know the ones)
- Ability to show (or not) idle times, warning levels, &c. in buddy list window.
- Internationalization. What if you’re Polish and have American, Russian, German, Israeli, and Japanese buddies? Neverminding for a moment the fact that if that’s the case and you can speak all of those tongues you need to be a professor of linguistics at a major research institution, you can IM those buddies in their native languages, even if you have all of them in the same tabbed window!
- Proxy support. If you don’t know what a proxy is, don’t worry about it. 
One man’s treasure…
Gaim is not for everyone, however, and there are certain drawbacks that some may not be willing to accept. Away messages and profiles can contain HTML, but there’s no formatting toolbar to do it automatically, so unless you know color codes and/or formatting tags in HTML and you like cutesy profiles and away messages, you might be disappointed. Of course, if you’re a cutesy geek, then that’s not a problem! Also, whereas with AIM, idle time and away messages are retained upon disconnection and reconnection is optionally seamless, Gaim will let you know whenever you get disconnected by popping up a little dialog box explaining what went wrong and at what time. Useful, but perhaps annoying; and, unfortunately, even when it reconnects you, it doesn’t retain idle time or your away message (there is a workaround—email me, or I might put it on the site). This is not usually a problem with most people, but in cases where roommates are sharing a connection with a faulty Ethernet router or the like, it can become obnoxious.
Still, these are reasons that it’s in version 0.72, and progress is being made by leaps and bounds. It remains the most useful program for either Windows or Linux I’ve ever used, and I hope you find it useful as well.
Gaim - website.
