I know that its the in thing thsese days to bash up microsoft and its products, but hey, the made a great piece of software here.
I started using MSN Messenger when it first came out. Those were the bad old days. Only hotmail members. Only simple text chat. No file transfer.
But the latest version comes fully loaded! Voice chat, those icon things, File transfers, and best of all, you can add ANYONE to your contact list. No need to have a hotmail address. This is probably the most significant thing to have been upgraded. Other great feature: Ability to check you (Hotmail) email without logging in. What a timesaver!
Hwever the advanced user will find some things lacking such as Ability to organise into groups, appear offline ony to certian users , etc. But most of us can go without these features. If you really want those features, Check out ICQ .
I recommend you download this is soon as possible, even if it is just to try it out. It sone of the smallest pieces of chat software out there( 470 k !). Compare that to ICQ( 4 MB!).