Chat/IM File

[Ginafish]

Does anyone have a suggestion for a Windows Vista chat/instant messenger software that recognizes msn sign in's but isn't messenger? The Messenger program seemed to really slow the computer down... Thanks in advance for any suggestions! Other than ditch the Vista...no choice there 

[Hunter]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gaim/ Gaim - opensource
www.ceruleanstudios.com/  Trillian - Freeware

BTW, I have both. They both work equally well, though I feel Gaim loads faster, and Trillian has a "snazzier" interface.

Edit: Wait a minute..... GinaFish has Vista???

[Stasven]

Is Vista the complete waste of money that I expected of it...?

[Hunter]

I don't believe it is a "complete waste of money." Though I'm more likely to go Linux than Vista. Vista has run into some problems such as backward compatibility to a lot of 3rd party software. I understand that graphically it is better, though I would have to attribute that to the DirectX 10 engine more than Vista itself. From what I've gathered XP runs faster than Vista as well, though that will probably be addressed with a patch (Windows Standard Operating Preocedure) later on. The only real plus I can see to operating a Vista machine is the beautiful games comingout for the DirectX 10 engine.

In my personal opinion I think that Vista is going to be a tough spot for Microsoft in general. They are already getting flak for their Adobe V. Microsoft suit, their Office suite is finding more and more competition, IE is dying, and Linux systems such as DSL and Ubuntu are emerging to the forefront as viable alternative is the near future to Windows. This keeps up Gates may be asking Jobs for a job. Now that would be funny!

[Ginafish]

Not Ginafish...hubby. Had to get a pc laptop so he could access new job from home. He didn't need it for anything other than spreadsheets, word processing and minimal internet. 

Stasven, we really wanted a laptop with an earlier, more tested version of Windows, but the new laptop with Vista was too good to pass up. The only quirk he has had with it so far has been the slower processing when he installed MSN messenger so I came to you guys for alternatives. We are both rather uneducated about pcs...

Hunter, I'll pass on those suggestions for him to try out. Thanks

[Hunter]

Um, that sounds odd. He had to have a pc to access his new job from home? I think somethings missing. Oh, and if you aren't into Windows, you can always go Linux. Seriously, performance boost. I'd go linux flatout if my games weren't windows only.

Oh, BTW, all you Firefox killers out there, Opera has it's own smiles now too!!


I mean really, it's only logical.

[Ginafish]

He had to have a laptop with Indesign or Quark or something, I can't remember. If we bought a pc, the company had software we could install on it. If he used our existing mac laptop, we would have to buy the mac version of the software, and a new laptop/desktop for me at home. Cost of pc laptop or cost of laptop and software...hmmm....

And the smilies that some of us are using is a Firefox extension, but that doesn't make us anti-Opera.
Really...

[Hunter]

LOL!

Oh, and now that you've explained the software setup I can FULLY understand. If you had more programming experience I would suggest Linux anyhow, since it proportedly runs just fine, but since you don't your computer should run just fine.