It doesn’t matter if I am away or at home, I love to chat. I like the ability to use one program for all protocols, such as AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. On the PC, I use Trillian by Cerulean Studios, but since using my new iBook, I was at a loss to find a comparable program. After scouring the Web, I actually found two - both of which are free.

The first one I found was Fire, and it supports the six most popular instant messaging services: AIM, ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN, and Yahoo! Messenger.

The next one I found was Adium X, which supports the following clients: AIM, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Japan, Gadu-Gadu, Jabber, Napster, and Novell GroupWise.

Now I’ll have to give both a try and see which one I like the best. If any of you use either one, let me know how you like it!