This one was introduced to me by Josh. Now, I know that most of you aren’t that heavily into instant messaging, but I feel that I need to give back to the creators of Pidgin. It is for IMing what Brief is for feeds; it gathers and centralizes (don’t forget: a productive programmer is one who works very hard to achieve effective laziness).
Here’s why I’m a big fan of Pidgin: I am a child of the computer age. In high school, I started using AIM; everyone used AIM, so I used AIM. Then, I made a bunch of friends in Romania. These friends had never heard of AOL, but they were very familiar with Yahoo Messenger (or “Mess,” as it’s more affectionately referred to there). So I got a Yahoo ID in order to keep contact with them. Then, it turns out, Google (those devious monkeys) integrated an instant messenger into its email system! Brilliant! This, however, opened up a whole new vista of acquaintances exclusive to one IM medium.
What was a telephonophobe to do?! I’d already forgotten my Yahoo ID and, let’s face it, didn’t really enjoy the GChat interface (although, it does have automatic logging… and “<3" href="http://www.humanized.com/enso_demo.php">cool computer-related “discoveries,” the toutelage of Josh). It integrates all of my accounts (and, more! Now if I could only remember my old ICQ and IRC info…) into one program. That’s what I’m all about: efficient time-wasting (thanks to a completely different jedi master).
“But wait,” you ask. “What if I have friends that are on 2 or, heaven help me, more of those accounts?” Fear not, fair citizen; Pidgin gives you control over your interface, letting you combine redundant accounts into one Friend. It even checks your email for you! And it comes with all the bells and whistles (logging, alerts, you name it). And… it’s [ad] free! Can’t get enough of that open-source!
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