What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
216 Comments
- MaZAKaR, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18I am guessing that the survey was more for which service they were using, not the actual application they ran on their computer. GAIM is pretty sweet, but i am currently using Trillian Basic... GAIM kept crashing on me, i might give it another go soon...
- WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -16/+28That's unbelievable. MSN Messenger is one of the worst application interfaces I've ever come accross. I had to toss that thing and get GAIM to protect my sanity. Methinks the users who voted for MSN just never tried a better chat client, one with sensible interface design and no ads. If they had a chance to actually try out the various IM clients out there, use it for a few days, and then vote on which they prefered, the data might be useful in determining actual superiority... I bet most people would probably pick "that blue 'e' internet thing" as the best web browser as well...
- tdkyo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14In USA AIM trumps MSN. Unfortunately, rest of the world generally favors MSN.
- elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7You don't choose your IM service based on if it's good or not. You choose it based on what your friends use. There's really no point in using say.. Yahoo if everybody you know still uses MSN.
Anyway. Using MSN messenger is FAR FAR better than using AOL messenger ( What I use ( through gaim )). - MatttK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6There's a good reason why so many people use MSN. It comes installed on your computer by default and boots with Windows. And, although it doesn't seem to do it with newer versions of XP, my original XP whined about a .NET passport, claiming it was basically required to surf the internets, every time I installed XP.
Maybe this is bad... or maybe this is good. Before MSN got big, most non-tech people I knew didn't even know what an instant messenger was. Now they know what it is... and they all use the same one - MSN.
Windows Live Messenger is a lot better than regular MSN but only after you cut out all the bloat (using "A Patch for MSN"). I still wish I could run ICQ but most people I know have given up on ICQ for MSN.
At the end of the day, I'm not looking for features (all I need to do is chat and maybe send files). I'm looking for a clean interface, which is pleasing to the eye. GAIM and Trillian (basic) might be clean but they're not very pleasing to the eye by default. Thus, I'm using Windows Live Messenger for the time being. - qwerty967, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4As much as everyone wants Gaim to take center stage in the instant messaging world as Firefox has the browser market, Gaim under Windows isn't that great. The interface doesn't blend well with the Windows desktop as it does with Gnome. When Gaim 2.0 beta was released, I was expecting to be impressed but was instead disappointed. Not only did the interface feel like the old one but also voice chat to Google Talk users wasn't in it. I know that capability was never promised, but having the lead Gaim programmer working on Google Talk and not getting voice chat in Gaim was a big letdown. The only things Gaim on Windows has going for itself is interoperability (a good thing) and its freeness (which most people won't care about).
It is terrible that the official clients are jam-packed with features that are unnecessary. Aim is the worst offender with its installation of the AOL browser and third party software. Thank goodness there are tools available for AIM such as AIM Ad Hack and for MSN such as Apatch. These make the official clients a lot more usable.
I'm a big Trillian fan because it allows me to do the most important things (im, voice, file transfer) using minimal resources. The next version of Trillian is already in closed beta testing, and I'm excited to see the changes it will bring. - Cine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Well, I've tried AIM, YIM, ICQ, Trillian and GTalk, but I always found myself returning to MSN. It's easy to use, and with Msgplus it does everything I want it to. ..but then I got a Mac, and now I'm not using any IM at all, because I hate MSN for Mac, and Adium doesn't have an "Appear as offline" function.
Plus, in Norway, it's all MSN. No one has even heard of AIM or ICQ. I'd be pretty lonely to sit there with iChat open, completely without any contacts. - CedanticPunt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@WiseWeasel - sounds like you're using a Mac. Have you tried adium (adiumx.com) as it does yahoo, aim, msn, jabber etc, is completely free and has the best UI that I've ever seen in an IM app. It may not support every advanced feature from all protocols though.
- theone3, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8In the real world, MSN trumps AIM. Unfortunately, those crazy Americans generally favoUr AIM.
- kyriakos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4everyone I know uses MSN. i think it depends on which country you are in. I absolutely dont know anyone in person that uses Yahoo or AOL messenger.
- mike_p, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3WiseWeasel: Apparently you don't use a webcam and you don't live outside of the US. AIM is only really big (like HUGE) inside the United States. My girlfriend lives in England and SHE has an AIM account, but her friends don't at all. They all use MSN over there; that's their AIM.
As far as video conferencing, Gaim/AIM doesn't come close to what MSN offers built right into it. Yahoo! Messenger is the same deal. The compression/data-rate MSN uses produces smooth video while the others give you maybe a frame/sec. The audio popping leaves something to be desired, though.
The title of this article makes sense to me for these 2 reasons. - bsoric, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Or Jabber, which is (i'm fairly certain) SSL-encrypted.
WTF? need to enter a captcha do post this? - capn_caveman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm going out on a crazy limb here and admit that I use MSN messenger. Of course other options out there, but if you're an established user with contacts... it's hard to switch.
- TeKoverride, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I didn't feel like reading through all the comments so maybe someone has already mentioned this. But I wonder if the writers of this article were referring to the network rather than the client itself?
For me if I use iChat. But if someone asks me I just tell them aim cause it's the same thing. - boredzo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Adium > iChat. (Full disclosure: I am an Adium developer.)
http://www.adiumx.com/ - Izzie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In other news, polls is a biased way to influence people.
just more than 50% people say/think/do that and people will start saying/thinking/doing that
BTW msn messenger is the crappiest of all IM and comes pre-installed with windows. how exactly IE penetrated the browser market again ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_instant_messaging_protocols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_protocols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_instant_messaging_clients
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messengers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitlbee - Nocturnalis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I use meebo for AIM at work and iChat on my Mac. I got really fed up with the ad crap that AIM keeps putting out. Nothing worse than the damn video popups that play movie trailers over and over and over again.
- fyngyrz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I use Adium.
- BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2no wonder its so lonely on Google Talk :(
- johndi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm happy to oblige
- theone3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I do also. Just install the Mess.be patch and it's actually a really _good_ client.
- Zipp425, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The thing is once you tune MSN messenger its actually a pretty good app. get a-patch, itll allow you to remove crappy stuff like ads.... course it doesnt offer cross client connections, but hey, I think it looks better than trillian.
- dstart, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What I really want to know is.. why do people use AIM?
MSN Messenger, once patched to remove all the *****, is actually quite a good user experience. - tehbawb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Last time I checked it seemed like everyone stopped using IM clients and just used myspace... but then again I don't get out much.
Anyway, I use AIM because at the time it's what everyone else used, and because at the time, it was had the best official client (yahoo was always bloated, and msn was so ugly and slow), ignoring the ads. Honestly though the only people I talk to on line are people that I game with, and there's chat built into the games... So I just message them on one of the networks they're on, and continue the chat in the game. - dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Sorry, but the GAIM UI is a complete mess, and is horrible to use..
My biggest problem with MSN is can be laggy (Can be around 3 seconds slow), but that doesn't matter..
I've tried GAIM many times (newer versions), great, it can work with all these protocols, which I don't use, by default it doesn't show a message to say a contact has signed in, most stuff's hidden away in menus (if I remeber right), things like my contacts display picture is showed beside the send message box, not beside the main window (Which is more logical IMO)
Yeh, open source is great, but 95% of the time, they seriously need to work on the GUI..
Hm, Digg now uses image verification for comments.. grr
- Ben - Hyperion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In my school, MSN was the main protocol used by students. Slowly, but surely, they moved on to AIM, which I personally think sucks. MSN had many more features, its UI was so much cleaner, and didn't make me think of Windows 95. Don't get me started on Triton, that big mess was the most horrible thing I've ever used.
Nowadays, as I'm forced to use AIM, Aim-Ad Hack helps make AIM more usable - http://aftermath.dyndns.org:8888/~aimadhack/
Oh, and don't forget Xfire. Tons of features and low system usage make it indispensable for gamers/those in clans. - jjk5, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7I don't need any statistics. I'm in the US and i've never...ever met anyone who uses MSN. AIM is the preferred means of contact for highschoolers and if you got through HS without an account you won't last a day in college without someone asking for your screenname.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2MSN for mac is a great client. There's no bloat-ware connected with it and it's easy to use.
- NicP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2its called email
- aptmunich, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2AdiumX all the way baby...
Beats Gaim, Trillian, Fire Proteus and all the official clients hands down... - Haiyadragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I like Miranda. Minimal but fairly customizable. Support for multiple (I bet most) protocols. I live in the Netherlands which is 90% MSN (if I had to guess). I guess our gamers might use different protocols too IM with other countries.
- thecapitalizt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I honestly use AIM because 1. my friends use it, and 2. MSN for mac blows. Hell, they've still got that huge 'SEND' button as if it were still 1995. Also, can't change my picture (yey rosetta!), and its ridiculously bloated.
Plus I don't like the fact that someone has to allow you to be friends with them. - danpsmith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Eventually IM will have to be an open standard. It's ridiculous that one service doesn't talk to the other service, how the hell hard is it to have these networks interoperate for *****'s sake. Google has the right idea with this one...hopefully their buying part of AOL will mean that they will be able to release a GTalk that will interoperate with AOL's servers, then we can all start to make the transition from proprietary networks to an open standard. Can you imagine if IRC varied depending upon client, what *****.
- theone3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Aussie. Everyone does indeed use MSN here.
- ErinIsADrunk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1that doesn't really surprise me, I mean all my friends from Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada use MSN Messenger. Here in the States I find that a good majority of people use AIM and nobody uses Yahoo or ICQ messaging services anymore. I personally prefer to use products like GAIM so that I can chat with all my friends regardless of what instant message client they are using.
- Recluse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I used MSN messenger once in my life for about 20 minutes. Worst IM program ever.
- danpsmith, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2All of these mentioned networks suck. The only reasonable push I can see for IM is open standards. I'd recommend jabber or Google chat, I don't see switching from AIM when everyone uses it to MSN which is probably just going to be more evil. I don't care WTF the rest of the world is using because I'm not chatting with the rest of the world usually anyway.
- mv10, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2AIM reminds me of Windows 95. Its crappy and outdated. MSN Messenger is so much better.
- bloqmon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2everyone has to realise, outside of the US people use MSN or ICQ. AIM is very US-centric. I am American and live in Israel (embassy) and have to use both on a daily basis and I have to say, both are equally ***** and I use Adium X so I dont have to deal with their ***** interfaces. :)
- newbietheatre, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ahammell hit the nail on the head. It's not about protocals for most people, is about what your contacts use.
- Haiyadragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1NZ?
- brainache, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@Cine
Adium has an appear offline function, its called "Invisible" and i don't think its set as a default, but you can go to preferences and then status and add the custom status, and from the drop down menu select "Invisible" as the status type. - nurriz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I don't believe MSN Messenger is pre-installed on any version of Windows. Windows Messenger is, but MSN Messenger is a download.
- ArmchairAthlete, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well I don't know where the hell these people are because I don't know anybody who uses MSN messenger.
- dWhisper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I use Trillian to manage my different connections, and by and large, most of my contacts use MSN. 65 contacts on MSN, 15 on Yahoo, and 18 on AIM.
I won't go on about how "everyone I know" using one or the other, since that's never going to be an accurate statistic (especially among Digg users), but most seem to prefer MSN. I like a features of each one, like being able to set custom away messages in AIM and all the entertaining tool built in to Yahoo. But for simplicity and general chatting, I prefer MSN, and not just because it came with Windows (I've been using it longer than that). Mostly, I think it's because it's easily the least intrusive of the three clients, and it doesn't like to pull focus away like AOL does and isn't a hog like Yahoo (surprise there, for an MS app).
Ultimately, people will use what their friends use... most everyone I met in college or later in life has been on MSN, so I stick to it. - Zedtech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I would say this header is actually somewhat correct. Maybe not 60%, but I'm sure its damned near close.
While I'm no fanboy of MSN, and used to use AIM back in the day before it became filled with idiot twelve year old kids swearing they are the "l33t", at what I am able to see, most people whom I ask what messenger they use tends to return MSN. While I think the honest over all accountability factor for this relies in the same reason things like Internet Explorer are more used than their alternative counterparts (FireFox/Opera): It comes already installed with Windows.
Most people have told me for that sheer reason alone they started using it. Just turn on your PC and there it is, no download (except maybe to update it), and you're set. I can even go as far as telling you that some of these users have never even heard of these alternatives (such as AIM, mIRC, XChat, Trillian, GAIM, etc). It just perplexes me how some users can be so naive about alternative solutions yet when you ask them about the internet they can tell you that you can find anything if you look hard enough for it.
One of those weird mysteries of life, I guess. - thecapitalizt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Guess what? I can spy on my family's AIM actvities as well. It's called Ethereal
- cyssero, on 04/18/2009, -0/+1Hate to nitpick, but MSNM is not installed with Windows. Windows Messenger, a crappy, cut down version is. MSNM is completely optional, and while Windows Messenger might encourage people to use MSNM, it is not included.
On a contact list of 300 or so, not one uses Windows Messenger (they all have display pictures). - Chuck95, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'm in the US, and I must say I also have never met anyone who used MSN. I've been using ICQ since 1997. Thats basically AIM now, so I would agree the most common here is AIM and then Yahoo. One of the first things I do when installing Windows is to remove MSN Messenger. I have an nLite build that has it removed by default. I use Trillian basic as my client too...
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1AIM = AOL Instant Message, AOL = America Online.. Makes sense AIM is america-centric..
Like the people (Who live in America I guess) saying that they know no-one who uses AIM, I know no one that uses AIM, but almost all the people in my class at college use MSNM, and most people at my old high-school use it, as does several members of my family (That and Skype)
- Ben -
Show 51 - 100 of 217 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is