From the "Poor AIM" department:

AIM was behaving badly today, so I actually had to bite the bullet and install the official AIM client in case I had to turn in a trouble ticket. AIM 1.5 for Linux didn't install on my currently borked Linux install (are you surprised?) but it installed just fine on my Windozer.

Good god it is awful. About half a dozen windows pop up all over the desktop, and they flash like a Las Vegas sign. Now contrast that with the gentle elegance of gaim, my chosen AIM client. It opens one buddy list window and a tabbed window for all your chats. If you want separate windows for your conversations, you can do that by unchecking one checkbox. You can use a custom icon for yourself if you want, but that's optional.

The gaim that's on this Linux box is a bit more primitive than version 1.0.0 of the Windows version, but it serves me well. I know that version 1.0.0 of the Linux version must be great. Once I reinstall Linux on this box and get the new HD installed on my laptop I'll be able to play with it too.

If AOHell wants to keep people using their IM client, they should definitely consider, at the very least, switching from using the Internet Explorer HTML module to using Gecko, the guts behind Mozilla and Firefox. Seeing all those IE windows on the desktop was disquieting, to say the least. At least the software didn't install any spyware, like I was dreading.

Anyway, the link for gaim is here: http://gaim.sourceforge.net . It's a good alternative to AIM for both Windows and Linux. MacOS X has iChat, which is pretty hot too.

One last thing...I will also be installing a slot-loading Panasonic combo drive on my Thinkpad. Burn, baby, burn!