How Many IMs Are You?

Many people have multiple instant messenger accounts on different platforms.  Some people go from simple to complex, some the other way around.  What kind are you?

I consider myself not an enthusiastic but sort of an old-bone when it comes to messengers. 

I remembered starting to use ICQ in mid 90's.  My ICQ# is in early 6 digits, though I haven't used it in years, I am surprised that it is still active.  I stopped using ICQ because back then it didn't store the contact list on the server, therefore when you change a machine.  Also because of the increasing amount of spam, I decided that's enough for me.

Yahoo! Messenger was a pleasant little thing.  It used to be pretty light weight and easy to use.  MSN came out roughly the same time, but until recently it didn't offer the offline messages.  Therefore YIM had my favor, besides, most of my friends were on Yahoo! around that time.  Things changed after I graduated and started to work.  For some reason, MSN seemed more compatible with the firewall in the office.  Not sure whether it's because of the same reason, but my friends started to jump ship to MSN.  Eventually I had no choice but to comply.

For a while, the concept of an universal platform for IMs were quite popular.  I worked on a project similar to Trillian when I went to graduate school.  I didn't stay on it for long because I realized soon that I am a person who adores simplicity and purity.  The all-in-one deal sounds good but it's the different characteristics in each IMs that make them interesting and special.

Later on, I also used AIM, Skype, Google Talk, Pidgin and then Apple's iChat.  I have pretty good experience with most of them except AIM.  I just simply don't find it that friendly.  I try it out just to see what's the big fuss of AOL.

These days, I mainly use MSN and Google, simply because they don't seem to have much issues with my office's firewall.  I still hop on other IMs from time to time at home to keep in touch with family and friends.  I guess in some way it is like kung-fu - when you first start, you like to learn more styles; after a while you want to just extract the essence and stick to the styles that are simple and get the jobs done well.  Meh, that makes me think of the Apple vs PC commercials.  Have I mentioned that I am a very easily distracted person... :P