I have become a huge fan of AIM. I am a college student and as many know, Nearly all college students have AIM open nearly all the time. This in and of itself makes it attractive. You can communicate with almost anyone while using it. America Online has made tremendous improvements in IM making it more ideal than ICQ and other competitors. Last year ICQ was my chat device of choice because you could exchange files. Since then AIM has more than caught up. Not only can you exchange files, with the appropriate software you can easily talk with a microphone. Fun smiley faces are probably unnecessary, but are cute
Not much of the screen is taken up while chatting- Chat windows can be minimized and will flash when a new message is waiting. You can change all of your preferences, but available features include alerts when buddies sign off and on, buddy alerts when a favorite buddy signs on, away messages to tell your buddies what you're doing, you can see how long your buddies have been idle...
I prefer instant messenger to AOL for one main reason: It is easier to switch between people you're chatting with. Instead of all coming up within the AOL window, the individual conversations come up in their own windows. You can change between them by pressing alt and tab together (you can always switch between different windows using those keys) and it makes quick typing much more convenient.
All in all, IM is becoming an integral part of many people's lives and I highly recommend it.



Recommended: Yes