Gaim

For the fictional alien race in Babylon 5, see Gaim (Babylon 5).

Gaim is a multi-platform instant messenger that supports many commonly used instant messaging systems including:

• AOL Instant Messenger (via OSCAR or TOC protocols)
• Gadu-Gadu
• ICQ (via OSCAR)
• Internet Relay Chat
• Jabber (XMPP)
• MSN Messenger
• Novell Groupwise
• OpenNAP
• Yahoo! Messenger
• Zephyr
• SILC

Previously referred to as "GAIM" (all capitals) or "gAIM" (first letter not capitalized), its official spelling is now either "Gaim" or "gaim". Its name is not to be considered an acronym to clarify that it does not have any affiliation with AOL. The term "instant messenger" and the acronym "AIM" are service marks of AOL Time Warner, so Gaim is not allowed to use them. Gaim is free software available under the GNU General Public License. The current version is Gaim 1.3.0, released May 10, 2005.

Originally written by Mark Spencer for Unix-like operating systems, it now runs on a variety of platforms, including Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, SkyOS and Trolltech's PDA system, Qtopia.

Recently, the Gaim developers have started to separate the core code—which handles things such as network connections and messaging—from the GUI code, which controls how these actions are presented to the user. After the code split is complete, it will be possible to write client programs using a developer's GUI library of choice. The core library produced by the split will be called libgaim; an in-development but stable version of this library is already in use in the Adium and Proteus clients.

Features

• Tabbed message windows for easy switching of conversations
• Accounts option allows user to log on as many different accounts at once as desired
• Transparency support via plugin for conversation and buddy list windows
• Aliasing nicknames by real name of user [1]
• Logging conversations and messages supported [2]
• Buddy Pounce feature pops up notifications or plays a sound when a user either logs on/off or changes status [3]

Gaim supports plugins for both RSA and GPG encryption. PhoneGaim is software based on Gaim (and thus also available under the GPL) that uses the SIP protocol to be able to have voice communication over the internet via VoIP.

See also

• List of instant messengers
• Comparison of instant messengers

External links

• Gaim Home Page
• What is Gaim?
• Gaim Project Info on Sourceforge.net
• Gaim for Qtopia
• Gaim-vv, a fork of gaim with experimental video/voice support
• Introduction to Gaim (Part 1 is specific to Windows)
• WebGaim