"A Stand Out"
With the massive amounts of instant messaging clients and services available for the Mac, it's rare that any one application stands out significantly from the rest. However, with its latest release, Adium manages to differentiate itself from the crowd and in a very good way.In previous versions of Adium, many of its draws were cosmetic in nature, with features such as tabbed chats and window themes. However, with the latest release of Apple’s iChat software now having the same features, the Adium team has again upped the ante again with their 1.2 release.
The most notable feature of Adium is the ability to have multiple messaging accounts open at a time and Adium continues with an impressive assortment of service support, ranging from the common (such as AIM and Yahoo! Messenger) to the uncommon (Novell and QQ).
The benefit to this support is the ability to have a continuous connection with all of your contacts without cluttering a screen with multiple menus and address books. This development combined with the previously mentioned aesthetic features, including the tabbed chatting, makes instant messaging with Adium a very easy and pleasant way to interact with all your favorite contacts.
Adium could easily become the "go-to" application for instant messaging clients, however, small issues cloud its otherwise beautiful face.
A Few Minor Issues
The biggest problem pertains to file transfers with contacts. During testing, easily 8 out of 10 times, file transfers failed amongst a variety of users on my own contact list, leading me to launch iChat to complete my file transfers.
Additionally, I was sad to see the promised functionality between Adium and my MSN/Windows Live Messenger contacts list still missing from version 1.2’s final product.
Some are also rumbling about the "cluttered" menu bar being too "chunky" or not visually appealing, although I found this was not as much an issue as some who commented on the Adium blog would have you to believe.
However, despite these issues, Adium still manages to be a very fun, functional instant messaging client that is easily recommended for everyday use.
Mac users who otherwise find themselves as smitten with the new Adium as I was should consider fronting some of their money and contributing their wealth to the project. With more funds in store for their developers, who knows what they might be able to churn out in their next release?
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Agree with our verdict? Having the same issues? Did we miss something incredibly beautiful—or incredible annoying? Share your thoughts on the release of Adium 1.2 on the all-new IM Forum. (Membership is free, but required to post.)
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Zachary Knight is a self-professed Mac addict and Public Relations/Marketing major from Gulfport, Miss. In 2008, Knight became an intern and associate writer for http://im.about.com.
