1. It’s not Microsoft.
2. It’s not Apple.
3. It’s not Yahoo.
4. It works on any OS using almost any IM client you can think of (AIM client itself, AIM Lite, Trillian, Pidgin, Kopete, Adium, Digsby, Miranda, etc. etc. etc.)
5. Jabber still sucks.
6. MSN/Live still doesn’t work right and disconnects randomly.
7. Yahoo does the same frickin’ thing.
8. For any IM client introduced, AIM connectivity is always first (funny that).
9. It’s stupidly easily to develop your own AIM client.
10. The block feature actually works like it’s supposed to.
11. As far as from-service clients are concerned, AIM is the least heavy (Yahoo Messenger is ultra-bloated as is Windows Live Messenger).
12. AIM has the least service outages (how often has your AIM disconnected.. if ever?)
13. Contact lists (including block lists) “carry over” easily from client to client, computer to computer, OS to OS.
14. SSL secure chat actually works and works well.
1 Reason why AIM isn’t the best IM client/network:
-Google Talk
Condolence reasons:
-It’s still from AO-Hell
-It may not be as bloated a pig as Windows Live and Yahoo Messenger, but it’s still bloated.
-Two words: AOL Toolbar
-AIM still doesn’t play nice with a few popular (albeit horridly bloated) internet security suites.
So, why doesn’t anyone use it?
Why doesn’t anyone use Google Talk? Well all of my personal and business contacts do - it’s integrated right into GMail which is far more convenient to a separate application (although you can utilize a separate application if you’d like).
That’s the beauty of GMail and Google Talk - if I’m working on a project and one of my collaborators send me a e-mail about the project I can see within my GMail account that he (or she) is currently on-line. So if I want to hash things out regarding that e-mail it’s easy - and for my blood far more elegant.