I have had a number of different conversations with people about the merits and drawbacks of the various Instant Messaging programmes out there.
Personally I have only used ICQ and MSN, and I frequently will have both open simultaneously. I generally prefer ICQ because there is no character limit (if you use the full rather than light version), and the chat rooms (slightly different to the IM option you can also use) allow you to actually see your partner typing. What I mean is, you can actually see the words as they are written, as opposed to MSN which simply tells you the person is typing.
However, MSN tends to be far more stable, especially when more than two people are chatting in the same "room," it has a nicer look, and I like the smilies better
Other opinions?
