Aol messenger for mac for mac os#
Aol messenger for mac for mac#
Aol messenger for mac archive#
Aol messenger for mac Pc#
Aol messenger for mac mac#

Aol messenger for mac mac#

If you want to get all three big services-AIM, Microsoft, and Yahoo!-your best bet is to use the popular open-source Mac IM client, Adium. Version 3.0 of YM adds the ability interact with WLM users-something not possible with iChat. But they can't communicate with the millions of people on Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger service (formerly MSN Messenger).

Aol messenger for mac for mac#

I wish these IM software makers would take the lead from Trillian, where the history window is accessible from any chat window and presents a calendar that you can use to jump to any conversation with a particular friend on a particular date.- Next: What About Rich Chat?Īlthough AOL's AIM for Mac software hasn't been updated since 2004 and won't let you do voice or video chat, Mac users who want to engage in rich chat sessions on the AOL Instant Messenger service-the most popular by far in the U.S.-can turn to Apple's own very capable iChat. iChat makes you go into the folder where each conversation file is stored and double-click on each individually to view it.

Aol messenger for mac archive#

YM's archive is actually better done than iChat's, which can save individual IM sessions only to your hard drive and doesn't offer an overview of your entire chatting history. Once you do get to it, the Archive interface does a good job of presenting your message history, letting you slice and dice messages by groups or users, and you can save the archive to your local machine in HTML format. You can't see previous conversations with a friend by choosing Get info, let alone by going through the message window. If you want to access older messages, however, you can get to them only through the Windows menu. (Or you can go into the Message Preferences dialog and set timestamps so they're always displayed.)Īlso from the Preferences dialog, you can turn on message archiving and choose to display up to 20 earlier messages, something I greatly appreciate: So often with IM software that doesn't have this capability, a correspondent will shoot you an IM with a URL or phone number and you'll close the chat window, lose the info, and have to ask your friend to send it again. Another nice touch: If you hover the mouse cursor over any message, its timestamp is displayed. One feature that's available right from the message window is an expanded set of emoticons. It's a trade-off between convenience and a clean interface, and while I prefer instant access, the unencumbered look may appeal more to the Mac mindset. Even the aging AIM 4.7 for Mac client gives you formatting options right in the window, whereas iChat doesn't. Instead, you have to go into the Messaging tab in the Preferences dialog to get at them, which I find counterintuitive in an app where convenience is critical.

Though you can format the font, size, and color of your text, the settings aren't as accessible as in most other IM software: They're not right in the message window. The new look partly mimics iChat's speech bubbles for conversation windows, though the bubbles don't size to your message, and they're not quite as pretty and customizable as iChat's. It's a fun but hardly mission-critical ability. Windows Live Messenger calls it 'nudge,' and iChat doesn't have it. You can send files and 'buzz' your friend, which just shakes your co-chatter's window around for a second or two. But one advantage it does have over the Windows YM app is that it doesn't display advertisements or the Yahoo! Messenger Insider window. Several other lesser goodies are missing as well. The Mac version lacks many of the frills found in the Windows version: It has no voice chat, no skins, no plug-ins, and no IMvironments. The new Mac client still lags quite a bit behind the Windows version of Yahoo! Messenger, which is now in version 8.1. Unfortunately, Yahoo! has four years' worth of ground to make up, which it only begins to cover in this release. Several new enhancements include tabbed conversation windows, the ability to add Windows Live Messenger contacts, a first stab at group chat, and access to Yahoo! chat rooms. Just released as version 3.0, in a stable late beta 2, the latest software brings an updated look more consistent with the feline versions of OS X-though not quite as slick as the one you'll find in iChat.

Aol messenger for mac Pc#

Yahoo! finally seems to be seeing the importance of the Mac's rise in the consumer PC market.

Aol messenger for mac for mac os#

The last Yahoo! Messenger client for Mac OS was released way back in 2003. I'm not talking months, or even more than a year. This messenger has been a long time coming. Best Malware Removal and Protection Software.