[edit] Brief Description

[edit] Wiki description

Description

Pidgin is a nice little software used for instant messaging. It support many servers: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google talk, GroupWise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySPaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP and Yahoo. Also is great for its multi language support.

Features

Login and see your friends. The groups are not ordered normal alphabetically, but from Z to A. You can see their pictures and you can add one yourself. Also you can change your status from their standards one (Available, Away, Be right Back, Busy, Not at home, Not at Desk, Not in Office, On the Phone, On Vacation, Out to Lunch, Stepped Out, Invisible, I’m not here right now) or create one yourself! Choose what category you want it to take part, wrote for it a title, put down a message and even insert a smiley.

You can double click a friends to talk to or you can to “Buddies, new IM” tab and write the persons name witch you want to talk. This is really useful when you have tons of buddies online and this search makes it easy for you.

You can see each users log (I mean see the IM history), join chats, get users info, send files, set to see flashy tabs when you receive an instant message, set buddy pounce, you can choose to see the offline buddies and the empty groups, you can sort them manually, alphabetically, by status or even by log size. So the one you usually talk the most will be in the front of the list so you could find them easier.

Set up your preferences: you can check or uncheck! the option that the buddies should be notified that you are typing to them, you can enable buddy icon animation, set up sounds when you receive messages, when you send them, when persons leaving the chat or enters (etc) and choose your own sound and forget about their default.

When you talk to several buddies they will be shown in tabs just in one window. You have a little search engine in a conversation to find words you’d like.

As a Yahoo user you can doodle with your friends, set up only the color you want (you cannot set the size of brush, you cannot put standard right lines and so) and you have the option to save your drawings wherever you want in your computer.

You can send emoticons, here they call the “Smile!“ and some of them don’t match with the original server (e.g. Yahoo!)

Also you will receive email notifications whenever you receive one.

History

They released the version 2.0.0, now you can work on version 2.2.0 and upcoming next we will have the 2.2.3, 2.3.0, 3.0.0 and they all have a due term. Unfortunately they are coming one week late with version 2.2.3

Easter eggs

Is not unusual for an instant messaging software to have plugins but this one has some novel ones. Set up to auto-accept file transfers, make yourself idle (hand-configure), iconify your buddy list and your conversations when you are away, draw a line to indicate new message in a conversation, save offline messages, put it check periodically for new releases and many others.

You can insert a horizontal line whenever you think in an instant message window.

Also you can set up at first to have spell checking almost in what language you want. Not so goof in spelling French? Let Pidgin do the work for you.

Communities

Join the Custom Query in talking about instant messaging on Pidgin.

See the all latest news on News Pidgin Instant Messaging.

Also you can enter the developers’ blogs where you can see their points of view on the Instant messaging software.

See also

See this instant messaging software section of Support and Development