aMSN is a freeware clone of the popular Windows Live (formerly MSN) Messenger. While it’s true there are other alternative instant messaging applications out there, there are a few perks to aMSN the other guys don’t have:

• Available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X (Universal) and FreeBSD
• Can do voice clips
• Can do display pictures
• Can do custom emoticons
• Has webcam support
• Has reliable user-to-user file transfers
• Has tabbed chat windows

..and more. You can see a full feature list on their home page.

Probably the best feature is that aMSN looks like a “light” version of the Windows Live Messenger. It is not something where you have to spend a lot of time learning it as everything “fits” well when using it.

Using the true Windows Live Messenger is the best way to get all the features out of the service, however, aMSN is the best alternative to the native client (and runs faster).

Bonus: aMSN can be extended easily with its many plugins.