Why Pidgin is better than Windows Live Messenger

Never used anything beside Windows Messenger? Then it's time to try out some alternatives! There are several of them, for example Digsby, Miranda and Trillian, but I just love Pidgin.


Absolutely irresistible mascot!

I have a confession to make: When I was considering my switch to Ubuntu I was mostly concerned if I was able to let go of Windows Live Messenger. I was blinded by it's flashiness. It was pretty and even a bit customizable. But I decided I can live few months without it and along came Ubuntu and Pidgin.

I didn't like Pidgin at first. I quite desperately tried to seek for a prettier alternative but there were none. I had no other choice than to stick with Pidgin. But it didn't took long until my eyes opened. It wasn't flashy, it was classy. It wasn't lame, it was user friendly. And eventually I fell in love with it.

There are dozens of reasons why I think Pidgin is better than Windows Live Messenger, but here are the most important ones in my opinion:

1. Pidgin is better because there is no ads

I was always bothered by the ads on Live Messenger. They were annoying and simply everywhere. And I found it quite unethical that there were ads for alcoholic beverages. There are kids using Live Messenger too and they should keep that in mind too when choosing advertisements.

2. Pidgin is better because it doesn't have any super duper cool but useless extra features

Did I ever used any of the Live Messenger extra features? I'm afraid I did not. Though I did accidentally click the nudge button for several times! I only want to talk with my friends, not to bother them with all those strange activities that Live Messenger offers. Don't get this wrong, Pidgin is very versatile too and it has some cool features as well.

3. Pidgin is better because it's a multi-protocol client

Live Messenger allows you to log in with one MSN account at one time. That's so uncool. I have two active MSN accounts and I want to use them seamlessly in the same time. And with Pidgin that is possible. And I could be using these too: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo! and Zephyr. Pretty awesome, right?

GO GET PIDGIN (runs on all Windows and UNIX platforms)

NB: Pidgin may crash down occasionally on Windows Vista, but it works perfectly fine on XP and Ubuntu.

Uudistuneen laajakaistaliittymän käyttöönotosta aiheutuu lyhyt käyttökatkos, joka kestää enintään 48 tuntia.

About a week ago I received a short notice about new HOASnet subscriptions. HOASnet is provided by Sonera and it's a free Internet access to everyone who lives on HOAS (Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region). It's sounds pretty awesome, free and everything, but it has always been totally unreliable. So when the notice came I knew there will be problems.

And now it has been off for a week. It's not like I'm dying here. I've been watching movies and taking long walks by myself. But I have started to feel isolated, so please fix it soon.

PS: Thanks to Elina and J.J. for being online on forenoons too! I'd be crazy without you.

I'm not dead

It's just my Internet access that has been dead for three four days now. Yeah. It sucks.

Note to self

Don't sleep on a kitchen floor. Just don't.

Encounter

I saw my high school student counselor when I was waiting for my train to leave. We didn't exchange any words. She looked at me, smiling. I looked at her, smiling too. She knew me well back then. I was a writer as well as a thinker in high school so she picked me to participate in some research. I can't remember what it was about, but because of that I had to meet her often. She also asked me to write a diary for her. Not like a real diary, but I had to write down what I enjoyed and valued in life.

I'm glad she didn't stop to say "hi". Seeing me like that, smiling happily. She probably thought I'm doing fine. And I am doing fine, despite the fact that I skipped school, broke up with Aleksi and oh, I'm soon becoming homeless too.

Sometimes I feel like such a loser. But then I remember that's what life is all about. When it sucks, it's called living.