Universal IM client?

Factual Questions
1

I am looking for an IM client that allows crosstalk. I have been using Trillian, which logs on several of my IM accounts at once. But my Yahoo account can talk only to other Yahoo accounts, and so on.

Is there a client that will allow my AIM account to talk to someone else’s Yahoo account? Is there a client that will allow my AIM account to talk to someone else’s ICQ account even if I don’t have an ICQ account myself? Is there any third-party client that can work with Google’s IM?
Universal :smack:

2

Well, I use meebo which is all online, no download necessary. I don’t know about crosstalk, but I think you can pretty much pick up any IM client for free and once you run them through trillian or meebo, never have to worry about them again.

3

I’m pretty sure the server for an IM service won’t accept a message unless it comes from an account that’s been signed in with a password. So, no.

4

I usePidgin (their site is down, so that will take you to the wikipedia entry). It works for everything I have tried so far, including Google Talk. I sign in to my AIM and Google Talk accounts and can talk to anyone on either of those from either account. Most of the time I don’t even pay attention to which one I am talking to someone with.

5

Yeah, for a client to send a message to a user on a particular network, it’s going to have have an account and be logged into that network.