Windows Live Messenger Alternatives?

[adit_sen]

Since the launch of Windows Live Messenger (WLM) & Yahoo Messenger 8.0 (Y!M) all i can say is : BLOATWARE!!

Its surprising that just a simple chat program can be such a huge strain on system resources! On my last check WLM was eating up 27MB of RAM & 67MB of swap memory! And these rise even higher when I'm in a conversation. And Yahoo messenger turns out to be even worse. I know I dont have the fastest computer or the best specs (1.4Ghz, 256MB RAM), but just for plain chatting why should these hog so much resources? I've actully given up on Yahoo messenger completely and use meebo. But meebo isnt always the best alternative.

Is there any software / patch by which I can strip off unwanted resources from these messengers? (I've already tried the mess patch, it doesnt help much, just tweaks with a few options here and there). If not, what are the best alternative messengers to use which will consume minimum resources, and yet provide most, if not all the functionalities of the original messengers? I've given trillian a try, but it really didnt turn out to be any better. The usability factor just weighed against it...

Any comments would be appretiated.

 

[hemant_mathur]

try www.meebo.com

 

[kalpik]

Hmm Gaim is your best bet!

 

[aadipa]

eBuddy is a good option.

Also try A-Patch to make your MSN messenger a little lighter

 

[rakeshishere]

USe the previous versions of these msngrs only...They do have most of the funtionality and are not resource hogging..Either use

Yahoo msngr 6/7 or
or msn msngr old versions

 

[adit_sen]

Sad to say Gaim is a poorly designed software. It keeps crashing all the time too.

 

[The Outsider]

trillian, gaim, miranda im, amsn(msn clone).