The latest version of a very popular Linux communicator for Windows, once hidden under the name GAIM. Pidgin allows you to log in to multiple accounts of different networks at the same time, so you don't have to run a separate program for each network. It supports an impressive number of networks, including AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE and Zephyr.

The application includes support for a number of additional (in addition to text chat) functions, including spell-checking, file transfer, absence messages and typing notification. The program also has a rich set of notifications about messages or availability of a given contact, as well as support for a large number of various plugins.