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I am currently a Digsby user, but considering:

http://lifehacker.com/5336382/digsby-joins-the-dark-side-uses-your-pc-to-make-money http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/2310/be-careful-not-to-install-junk-software-with-digsby/

I really do not want to leave it on my machine any further.

Does anyone have recommendations for a similar client that combines multiple IM (at least Hotmail and ICQ) and Twitter? (Anything further is a bonus) ... ideally a free solution, but anything really good that is not too expensive would be worthwile knowing about too (considering this just reinforces that you get what you pay for).

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To anyone that comes here and is wondering about how to delete your entire Digsby account, as of yet, there isn't one. Request one here: forum.digsby.com/viewtopic.php?id=4693 – Jared Harley Aug 14 '09 at 0:49
What operating system or platform? – jtimberman Aug 14 '09 at 0:51
I assumed Windows, due to the fact that Digsby is currently a Windows-only product. – Jared Harley Aug 14 '09 at 0:52
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The only reason I use Digsby is because it allows me to set emails as read from the system tray (usually seeing just the subject is enough). That way I don't have to open up the email client just to mark the message as read and reset the email icon. I'd be interested in replacements with/for this feature, too~ – Leftium Aug 14 '09 at 0:53
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jtimberman: Windows (Vista / 7) ... forgot that might be relevant ;) – jerryjvl Aug 14 '09 at 0:54
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9 Answers

up vote 16 down vote accepted

Pidgin! I switched from Digsby to Pidgin about a month ago, and I'm not missing Digsby at all (and I started off as a Digsby fanatic).

From the About Pidgin page:

Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log in to accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on MSN, talking to a friend on Google Talk, and sitting in a Yahoo chat room all at the same time.

Pidgin runs on Windows, Linux, and other UNIX operating systems. Looking for Pidgin for OS X? Try Adium!

Pidgin is compatible with the following chat networks out of the box: AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MySpaceIM, and Zephyr. It can support many more with plugins.

Pidgin supports many features of these chat networks, such as file transfers, away messages, buddy icons, custom smilies, and typing notifications. Numerous plugins also extend Pidgin's functionality above and beyond the standard features.

Pidgin integrates with the system tray on Windows, GNOME2, and KDE 3.1.

Pidgin is under constant development. Releases are usually frequent and driven by user contributions, such as bug reports and patches.

Pidgin is free and contains no ads. All our code is open source and licensed under the GNU General Public License. This means you can get Pidgin's underlying code and modify it to suit your needs, as long as you publish the changes you make for everyone to benefit from as well.

It took a little playing around with setting to get it the way I like, but I haven't looked back yet. And big bonus, free AND open source!

Edit: Whoops, missed the Twitter part of the question. Without further ado, I give you DownloadSquad's How to Add Twitter and Facebook IM Support to Pidgin for Windows!

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Pidgin doesn't do Twitter, does it? – jerryjvl Aug 14 '09 at 0:41
There are many many places that offer IM and turn it into Twitter. – Chacha102 Aug 14 '09 at 0:42
Chacha102: Without a link that is not a very helpful comment... – jerryjvl Aug 14 '09 at 0:46
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Add twitter to pidgin: webupd8.blogspot.com/2009/03/twitter-in-pidgin-plugin.html – jtimberman Aug 14 '09 at 0:50
It can, see my added link. It's not as fancy as Digsby's integrated Twitter, but I've learned to live without it. I use TweetDeck instead: tweetdeck.com/beta – Jared Harley Aug 14 '09 at 0:51
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up vote 5 down vote

I personally use Trillian Astra. While it does have a pay option, all of the options you requested are available in the free edition. I definitely like the interface over pidgin which is the main reason I use it. (Pidgin just feels a bit unpolished to me)

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I tried Trillian for a bit, but I just couldn't get into it. And as for unpolished, well, function over form sometimes, I guess. I have yet to find a really excellent skin for Pidgin in Windows. – Jared Harley Aug 14 '09 at 1:12
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up vote 3 down vote

Miranda is nice, open source and have plugins for most stuff.

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miranda is nice, except that its configuration dialog is the WORST configuration dialog I have EVER witnessed in ANY program. – Epaga Nov 16 '09 at 9:50
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up vote 2 down vote

Pidgin. People complain that it has no flashy gimmicks like MSN or Trillian ... the nudges and games... and things like that ... but why do you need any of that? I suppose it makes it fun for people or whatever but the purpose is to chat with others... who knows. Anyway if you want the flashy stuff ... Trillian and if you want basic chat Pidgin.

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up vote 1 down vote

Meebo.

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up vote 1 down vote

Either Pidgin or Meebo would be reasonable alternatives on a PC. Adium is the program of choice for the Mac. You might also want to look into Trillian.

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up vote 1 down vote

As mentioned above, Pidgin is very good, and it benefits from being cross-platform (and from its base, libpurple, being cross-platform). This means that you can easily sync data (like chat logs) and settings across the major platforms. The Mac client Adium (adium.im - new users can only post one link) is also based on libpurple.

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up vote 1 down vote

I was also quite disappointed to learn of digsby's ridiculous money making plot. To answer you question, there isn't anything else quite like digsby. triallian is the most similar, in that u create a triallian account, log into that and all of your other accounts are there (great for using it on multiple machines). It has all of the same account type support as far as i can tell. However, in using it I just was not satisfied. There were just minor things that I felt Digsby handled much better. I wouls say, give it a shot, you might like it. Alot of my coworkers do

Pidgin is pretty solid, but doesn't not offer the multiple machine syncing (and lets face itm its not pretty). Meebo is nice, except is restricted to the browser, which can be good and bad. Good for labs, not so great for your personal PC.

Honestly, if you really want a great IM your best option is go get a Mac and use Adium. I am not trying to start a windows/mac argument at all. Simply, Adium is an awesome IM client, but its OS C only...

sad :(

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up vote -1 down vote

Pidgin, Miranda, Trillian Astra, or Meebo are all great choices -- but honestly as long as you've disabled the idiotic research module within Digsby there isn't a good reason to STOP using it. It's a great app -- plain and simple, and once you get rid of the adware crap it's still great.

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I find their feedback on how to disable this feature heartening, but it's more the principle that bothers me... it's easy to admit to doing something when you know people already know about it. Also, what is to say there are no other undesirable features in there that haven't been disclosed? I want to take a step away from Digsby for the time being until they regain my confidence. – jerryjvl Aug 20 '09 at 23:01
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