One of the few things I truly hate is AIM. My hate for AIM burns like the white-hot intensity of a trillion suns. It’s probably the worst (popular) piece of software available today, and I’ve never understood why anyone would willingly choose to use it when they could just as easily chat with their AIM friends using Trillian, Pidgin, Adium, Miranda, or any number of other IM applications.
To be fair (sic) to AIM, though, my complaints against it have always rested on only two things:
- Ad-Supported: AIM includes ad’s, which probably seemed like a great idea back in the 90’s. Most die-hard AIM users have gotten’ used to the ad’s, but I started instant messaging on other networks where ad’s weren’t included. Combined with my general hatred of most Internet advertising—including pop-ups, pop-unders, interactive banners, splash pages, and sponsored links, among others—using an ad-supported IM service not only didn’t make sense, but felt insulting. Does AOL really think I’m that stupid? ((Don’t answer that.))
- Crapware: AIM installs all kinds of extra junk, including the useless AOL Browser and the even more useless AOL Toolbar. While AIM has gotten better about the crap it includes ((Previous versions of AIM also included WildTangent, a spyware gaming service, and WeatherBug, a useless weather-reporting program.)), there’s still no option to install just AIM.
So what would AIM be like without all of the advertisements and crapware? A few things got me asking this question, including the fact that most of my friends insist on using AIM, Pidgin’s horrible file transfer support between AIM users, and a friends trouble with the newest version of AIM. And a brief search revealed this program, which (despite it’s name) isn’t so much a hack as it is a proper installer. It gives you the option to not just remove but prevent the installation of all of the crap associated with AIM, including ad’s, the AOL Browser, and all the other junk AOL usually includes with AIM.
So what is AIM like without all of the advertisements and crapware? It’s actually really nice. Once you cut out the garbage, AIM is a highly functional instant messaging application with some nice extras. Application skins, emoticon bursts, and other eye-candy provide for entertaining chat’s. File sharing is wonderfully implemented. And AIM Expressions are a nice touch, particularly the WeeMee feature.
I never thought I’d say this, but I love AIM. If you don’t need multi-protocol support, I highly recommend it with the AIM Ad Hack installer.