GAIM will now be called Pidgin, Courtesy AOL

The widely known cross platform, cross network instant messenger client, GAIM has been forced to change its name to Pidgin. AOL had to force this change upon GAIM because they believe it closely resembles with their own “AIM” Instant Messenger. Pidgin (aka GAIM) has found a new home at pidgin.im.

All new releases had been put on hold due to the legal woes. Now that it’s almost over, the new release must be available within a week or two.

It will surely take some time before people start recognizing GAIM as Pidgin, but I strongly believe that AOL didn’t have to do this because GAIM’s website always had “GAIM is NOT endorsed by or affiliated with AOL” text in their footer. I am a big fan of GAIM because it doesn’t suck loads of memory; it works smoothly with all IM networks without any troubles. I’m one of those AIM users who had never used AIM client, but used GAIM instead. AOL makes lots of money by showing embedded ads on their client, maybe most AIM users disliked it and moved towards GAIM. AOL didn’t like it, so they tried to squash them legally. This is certainly not a good aura for AOL.

via Cybernetnews

This post was published by on April 9, 2007

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://apexad.net apex

    I am surprised it too AOL this long! Anyway, it’s blogs like yours that will help this news spread!

  • http://www.puntogeek.com/2007/04/09/gaim-cambia-de-nombre-ahora-es-pidgin/ GAIM cambia de nombre, ahora es Pidgin | PuntoGeek

    [...] Vía | TechBuzz [...]

  • http://www.jaysonjc.com Jayson Joseph

    Pidgin? Fighting AOL would have been better than taking up such a horrible name! :-)

  • http://tech-buzz.net/2007/05/06/pidgin-20-formerly-gaim-now-available/ Pidgin 2.0 (formerly GAIM) now available

    [...] the multi protocol instant messenger client whose development was stopped due to trademark settlement issue with AOL and had to renamed the project as Pidgin to continue development. Pidgin 2.0 is finally available [...]

  • Omega Wolf

    Personally, I don’t care what the program’s name is as long as it works. The inability to log onto MSN since last August has been crippling for me. If Pidgin fixes it, more power to them.