AIM - For or Against?

[zombiewhacker]

I've heard lots of negatives about it: it's annoying, it's a gateway for viruses, etc.

Is this just a bunch of weenies talking? What do you non-weenies have to say about it?

 

[Jake_Barnes]

If you have good spyware apps - run them and then you tell me ...

[/can you say WildTangent up the arse ...]



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[Jake_Barnes]

<A HREF="http/www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117301,00.asp" target="_new">AOL readies update to instant messaging program to fix flaw that allows intruders</A>

AOL/AIM sucks ...

[/Edit: and this <A HREF="http/channels.lockergnome.com/news/archives/20040809_aol_instant_messenger_vulnerability.phtml" target="_new">link</A>



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Jake_Barnes on 08/10/04 06:56 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Mr5oh]

AOL is a horrible, evil company with a large chunk of its customers being very uneducated.

However I am forced to use AIM on many ocassions. However there are several alternatives to the actual AOL IM.

Have you tried something like Trillian? It supports YahoIM, AOL IM, and ICQ.



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[Johanthegnarler]

I use GAIM, but that's for linux. I'm not sure but i believe its for Windows as well. Check it out it's awesome.

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[Jake_Barnes]

Got a link to GAIM?



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[markgun]

<A HREF="http/gaim.sourceforge.net/" target="_new">http/gaim.sourceforge.net/</A>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

GAIM rocks

------------
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[Jake_Barnes]

Looks cool ... might give it a try ... 'cept I don't chat ...



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[Zoron]

However, it's not without it's problems as well:

Madrid, August 30 2004 - Versions prior to 0.82 of the Gaim instant messaging client are affected by several security problems(*) that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code and compromise system security.

Most of the vulnerabilities are related to buffer overflows and can be exploited from servers or other clients. Attackers who exploited these problems could cause effects ranging from denial of service (DoS), causing Gaim to stop working, to execution of arbitrary code, allowing them to take control of the affected computer.

These vulnerabilities have been corrected in version 0.82 of Gaim, which can be downloaded from: http/gaim.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

I'm sure they're better at fixing it that AOL is at AIM, though.


<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>