I’ve tried just about every chat program there is out there, and finally narrowed it down to AOL IM and ICQ. Both of them are widely used, and both claim to be the best. Each has some features that the other doesn’t, and it’s up to each user to decide which features they need most. This, of course, is what ultimately influences your final choice.
Both have ’’buddy lists’’ where you enter the names of your online pals. IM wins in this section, because you can type in the screen name of your buddy. ICQ (at least the last version I tried) requires you to enter their ICQ number, which then returns their user name and other info. I don’t know about you, but it’s a heck of a lot easier for me to remember ’’bobsmith2112’’ than ’’2567540911’’. Both IM and ICQ have ’’find buddy’’ features where you can see if a friend is a user by searching for their email address or user name.
Both let you back up your buddy list and settings info. Once again, IM excels in this area. Twice I’ve had to reinstall ICQ, and to utilize my existing account I had to type in, you guessed it, my user NUMBER. Luckily, I’d written the darn thing down, or else I would have had to open a new account. You can also set up both programs for use with multiple users. IM is once again easiest to share between users. When you click the log on icon, there’s a drop down list of user names so you just select the one you want to log on with. It’s also a simple matter to add a new user to your account. Just pick a name, and AOL will check to see if it’s available. If so, you’re in business.
Chat itself is much more enjoyable with IM. Both programs open a small (but you can resize it) window where your chat dialogue takes place. with IM, you can minimize the window, and when your friend says something to you, the IM bar on your task bar flashes so you know something new has been said. The chat takes place in real time, with everything each of you says remaining onscreen for the duration. You can scroll up to see what was said earlier. ICQ actually uses a quite annoying format, in which you type something, click ’’send’’ and the whole message window disappears. When they reply, you get an audio/visual indicator and a new window with their reply pops up. Basically, IM is the written equivalent of a telephone call, and ICQ is a telegram.
I’m makes it super easy to send a friend photos or files, you simply pick ’’send’’ from the menu and browse until you find what you want to send. You can also send pictures directly to the chat window, so that the picture is viewable without your buddy having to find and open it on their own computer. This is really handy if you’re in the midst of a multi-person chat. Multi chat is available with IM and ICQ, but again, IM’s is much easier to use.
The interface on IM is clean and simple, with the default fonts and colors being clear and easy on the eyes. ICQ tosses out some bizarre combos for the default settings, and it is almost impossible to find out how to change settings. I’m extremely computer literate, and every time I use ICQ it takes me forever to figure out how to get it to do what I want. The lag time (the time it takes what you type to appear onscreen to your friend) is markedly less with IM than ICQ. ICQ servers seem to be seriously strained from all the traffic, and at times it’s impossible to even start ICQ.
Both ICQ and IM let you play games against friends, but I’ve not had much luck getting either one to work right in this area. IM includes handy pop up menus that allow you to change the font color and size, background color, and some nifty little emoticons, with one or two mouse clicks. ICQ doesn’t. AOL’s whole philosophy seems to be ’’keep it simple and fun to use’’. Apparently, ICQ’s slogan is ’’Impress people by making it as complex as possible!’’
As you can probably guess, AOL IM is my chat program of choice! I’ve used it for years now, and until a chat program is developed that reads my mind and automatically transmits what I want to say, I’ll stick with IM.