No-frills Instant Messenger? - Bit Wise?

[GoPodular.com]

I scored big with using Thunderbird instead of Outlook:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=52059.0

So the next question is what is a good barebones IM program?  I'm looking for something like ICQ used to be when it first came out.  I need:
1) Instant Messages.
2) Do Not Disturb message so other people can see what game server I'm playing so they can hop in too.  It will stay running while playing games obviously.
3) File transfer.

I don't need ads, music, images, browser, or anything else.  Just a stupid little IM proggie.  I haven't used one since ICQ started putting in ads and my friends are all willing to switch to a basic no-frills program.  Anybody have some ideas?  Please post any pros/cons of what you're using.

[AtomSmasher]

I've been using trillain for years, it lets you login to most major IM's from one program (AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, etc.).  Its free and has no ads, and you can keep your icq logins.  It also has a bunch of different skins, I chose a very minimalist skin which is probably what you would want too.
http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/

If you play games with your friends then you may want to try XFire.  It keeps track of what games all your friends are playing and if they're playing a multiplayer game it lets you easily join the same server as them. 
http://www.xfire.com/

[GoPodular.com]

xfire looks good but it looks like they limit your file transfers.  I move a lot of large graphic files so that might not work.  I know trillian used to have compatibility issues with the various other clients.  A friend of mine had it a long time ago and it seemed like every other week he was saying somebody (AOL, MSN, etc) updated something that broke trillian.  Do they still have that issue?

Man I miss the old ICQ.

[AtomSmasher]

xfire looks good but it looks like they limit your file transfers.  I move a lot of large graphic files so that might not work.  I know trillian used to have compatibility issues with the various other clients.  A friend of mine had it a long time ago and it seemed like every other week he was saying somebody (AOL, MSN, etc) updated something that broke trillian.  Do they still have that issue?

Man I miss the old ICQ.

When trillian first came out AOL tried hard to stop them by changing a part of their protocols every few weeks which would break trillian for a little while until trillian figured out a way around it, but AOL gave up after a while.  Now updates are few and far between, like most clients, so no, thats no longer an issue.  And you right about XFire, I don't know if it even has file transfers, I forgot you mentioned that.

[SOAPboy]

xfire looks good but it looks like they limit your file transfers.  I move a lot of large graphic files so that might not work.  I know trillian used to have compatibility issues with the various other clients.  A friend of mine had it a long time ago and it seemed like every other week he was saying somebody (AOL, MSN, etc) updated something that broke trillian.  Do they still have that issue?

Man I miss the old ICQ.

GAIM

Lighter than trillian, and works better imo

[Santoro]

I swear by Trillian.  Works great.  I use it for business and the logging feature is indispensible for me.   (Sametime doesn't log.  )

[RayB]

I scored big with using Thunderbird instead of Outlook

An application got you laid? Please tell us how!

[GoPodular.com]

An application got you laid? Please tell us how!

I'll never reveal my tricks I mean methods.

[GoPodular.com]

Still looking.

• Google talk: has autoupdate and stores conversations.
• GAIM: is this buggy on XP?
• ICQ: bloated
• AIM: I hate AOL
• Trillian: doesn't have it's own "stuff"?
• Miranda:  doesn't have it's own "stuff"?

[GoPodular.com]

Anyone have experience with http://www.bitwiseim.com?

I might be giving it a shot.

[SOAPboy]

Still looking.

• Google talk: has autoupdate and stores conversations.
• GAIM: is this buggy on XP?
• ICQ: bloated
• AIM: I hate AOL
• Trillian: doesn't have it's own "stuff"?
• Miranda:  doesn't have it's own "stuff"?

Gaim isnt buggy to my knowledge.. never had a crash or hickup of any kind..

[GoPodular.com]

hmm.  They had a whole thing about it on their site.  I'm going with BitWise.  There's a feature for sharing a folder with people on your contact list and that will work great for sending graphic files around.