Most of us have been put at least once in the position of choosing an alternative for the classic Yahoo Messenger, either because you couldn't use YM at that certain point, or because you just wanted to try out something new.

There are several programs that allow users to connect to a multitude of instant messaging accounts, all including Yahoo as well. I am going to present the three most powerful of them all.

Trillian

A multi-protocol instant messaging application for Windows created by Cerulean Studios that can connect to multiple IM services, such as AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Bonjour, Jabber, and Skype networks (the latter four with Trillian Pro which allows for additional plugins). Initially released July 1, 2000 as a freeware IRC client, the first commercial version (Trillian Pro 1.0) was published on September 10, 2002. There are currently two types of Trillian available, the original and free Trillian Basic 3 and the commercial Trillian Pro 3. An upcoming product called Trillian Astra (4.0) has been announced and is currently in alpha testing. All in all, this makes for a great alternative.

Gaim (actually Pidgin)

Ported from Linux, it's a popular multi-platform instant messaging client that supports many commonly used instant messaging protocols. Gaim is free software available under the GNU General Public License. Gaim was originally known as GTK AOL Instant Messenger. In response to complaints from AOL, the program was renamed to Gaim, an acronym of its previous name. As AOL's IM program AOL Instant Messenger gained popularity, AOL trademarked its acronym, "AIM", leading to a lengthy legal struggle with Gaim's creators that was kept largely secret. On April 6, 2007, the Gaim development team announced the results of their settlement with AOL, which included a series of name changes: Gaim will become Pidgin, libgaim will become libpurple, and gaim-text will become finch. It's easy to use, simple, and stable.

Meebo

It's an in-browser instant messaging program, like AIM Express, which supports multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, and Jabber. This means no additional software installed on the computer. Although still in its early stages, the goal of the project is to combine the features of Trillian or Pidgin (formerly Gaim) with the availability of AIM Express. Meebo includes the ability to sign on invisibly and to connect to multiple services. My Sumber Articles