Since you're on XP, screw GAIM, use Trillian, I personally think it's better :/
Not only is Trillian Pro (Basic isn't even worth mentioning, much less using) eats up resources, and this clan is mainly made up of gamers, that should be your clue right there. But, I'll continue.
Now, this is a biased opinion, but you'll get over it. I've used Trillian Pro for a few years, and Gaim for a few months, at least on WindowsXP. So don't go thinking I'm ignorant on each of these subjects.
Price- Trillian Pro costs a tidy sum to use, forcing the majority of users to pirate it. This is quite unethical to most, and a large downside when there are free alternatives THAT DO ALL OF THE SAME FEATURES, SOMETIMES BETTER.
- Not only is Gaim free, but it's
open source. This is a huge advantage, especially in the next few sections.
Bugs and Patches- Cerulean Studios is horrible at patches. They only patch when something big breaks, like one of their plugins for the different services, and they get bitched at enough to be motivated to fix it. Often times, large gaping holes are left open, as exemplified in the next section.
- Gaim is always up-to-date, especially because it's open source. There is a consistant amount of patches being submitted to the beta versions by different programmers, and since the code is available it's easier to find and correct bugs before they are even a problem.
Security- I remember iago mentioning something about Skywing and Yoni's debate over Trillian Pro's security. I believe it ended in Skywing using a year-old exploit in Trillian Pro to run arbitrary code on Yoni's machine. That exploit is still unpatched.
- Again, open source allows security issues to be fixed before they are discovered and exploited.
I think you get the point. I'm kinda lazy, but I could continue.
