IM a message

Instant messaging is something I've only just started to get. You know, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, that kind of thing. Until today, I'd never once used it.
That changed today. I've had Google Talk since April, when I first started using Google Mail. The trouble was that the Google Talk application didn't work in Vista, and there wasn't one available for Linux. You were supposed to be able to get it working with other clients including Kopete (the official IM client of KDE), but I couldn't get it working at all.
Today I looked at the website and decided to try again on my Vista laptop. I got it working in Pidgin (which was formerly known as Gaim, and is popular in Linux, but also available for Windows). Then I looked and saw that the official client now works in Vista, so I downloaded and installed it. Then, I thought to myself, if I can get it working in Windows, I should be able to get it working in Linux.
So I set about it again. Unfortunately, the version in the Ubuntu repositories was an old version of Gaim, before it became Pidgin, and I found it hard going, but eventually I got it working. I didn't like it as much as Pidgin, so I decided to go looking for a deb package of Pidgin to install.
Surprisingly, I found one! So I uninstalled Gaim, and installed Pidgin in its place, and it works perfectly.
I'd still prefer it if I could use Kopete (as it integrates better with KDE), or even better the Google Talk application (word is that a Linux version is in the pipeline, and I've added Google's Linux repository for Ubuntu so I'll easily be able to download it when it comes), but so far I'm very impressed with Pidgin. It even tells me when I get an e-mail, and with just a few mouse clicks I can go to my Google Mail account and check it.
Now, I just need to find someone to talk to...I've added the Google Talk button to this blog, so feel free to have a chat!