| AOL dispute forces GAIM to become "Pidgin" |
Apr. 09, 2007
GAIM, the popular open-source instant messaging (IM) application, last week changed its name to Pidgin, in order to settle a longstanding legal dispute with AOL. GAIM originally got its name as the acronym from "GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger," the Pidgin website says.
"AOL naturally complained, and [project leader] Mark Spencer changed the name to 'GAIM.' AOL was appeased, and no one really ever heard of it because there were very few users back then," the story on the website says.
A few years later AOL trademarked "AIM," and started referring to their IM services using that name, the website adds. That's when the legal problems started to bubble up, ultimately resulting in the name change to Pidgin.
GAIM's derivative projects, "libgaim" and "gaim-text," will be renamed "libpurple" and "Finch," respectively. GAIM's old SourceForge website, is now pointing to pidgin.im, the project's new website.
Pidgin 2.0.0, meanwhile, in development for more than a year, is expected to be released this week. Beta 6 of v2.0.0 was released in early January.
About Pidgin
According to the open-source project's website, Pidgin (formerly GAIM) is a multi-protocol IM client that supports Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows systems. It's compatible with a variety of IM protocols, including those of AIM, ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr networks, and users can log into multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. The IM client supports file transfer, away messages, typing notification, and "many unique features," according to its website.
To read more details on Pidgin go here. For insight into the meaning of "Pidgin," the project's website suggests reading this WikiPedia article.
Availability
To download your own copy of the latest version of Pidgin (formerly GAIM), go here.
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