Posted on by Frank - Follow me on Twitter

aim logo AIM 7 Has Been Improved Drastically

I talk about how social networks and technology are a major factor when it comes to communication on the internet.  One of the largest companies for making this possible is AOL and their instant messenger known as AIM.  I am pretty sure most of you are familiar with it or even use it to this day.  Although, over the past few years, I personally have seen a decline in the experience with using AIM.  Their interface was awful and not user friendly.  Secondly, in each new version, they were changing the way the application looked.

I forget which AIM release it was, but I stopped using it and moved over to an all-in-one client called Pidgin.  Not only was Pidgin’s interface clean, but it was simple and user friendly.  That’s a key with me for any new piece of technology.  To my surprise, AIM 7 (currently in beta)  has definitely done it’s homework.  Since Pidgin doesn’t have video chat built into it yet and I knew AIM did, I figured I would install the latest version and give it a second chance.  It had been a while since I used AIM at all.  Interesting enough, significant improvements have been made and I felt they should be shared with the rest of the community.  I wanted to walk everyone through why AIM does deserve a second chance.

First, the main color of the application is blue.  Not only is that my favorite color, but there’s better customizing features  made so that AIM is not complex.  In the past the color customization was made poorly and now they have incorporated themes!  Second, the video chat capability is clear.  The audio quality and video has been drastically improved.  It’s not just pixels all over the video – it’s been cleared out.  Now you can see who you are talking to.  The audio is not choppy and you can hear what your friend on the other end is saying.

There’s a lifestream tab built in which allows you to see the latest updates of your friends AIM status.  I like that it’s not directly under your friends screen name.  It was too cluttered that way.  You can add your other social networks like Twitter of Facebook to update your status straight from the application.  Overall, I think AIM has improved drastically even though AIM 7 is currently in beta.  The official release will hopefully bring the AIM client back on the right track again.  It was very smart of the people at AOL to listen (for a change) to what their customers wanted.  Now they can be sure a good product will be put out there!

For me, I will continue to use Pidgin because it’s an all-in-one client.  Although, for those of you who only have an AIM screen name AIM 7 is perfect for you!  Sometimes all it takes for old technology to become a commodity again is for minor altercations to be made to it.  Who knows, I think this may be a huge step forward for the people at AOL.  It definitely is nice to see when popular technology that was known and used nationwide makes a comeback.
So, what are you waiting for?  Download the AIM 7 beta now and give it a try.  Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.  Are you going to use AIM again?  If you still use it now, what do you think of this improvement?

Further reading:

Are Social Networks And Technology Putting An End To Verbal Communication?

Will Google Voice Revolutionize Technology?

Technology Reaches All Time High

New Technology Coming From T-Mobile

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Posted in Technology | Comments (4)

  • Susan

    New AIM really doesn’t cut the mustard – way too early to put out for testing. Think I’m going to delete it until it’s ready.

  • http://socialtechzone.com Frank

    Hi Susan,

    I have never felt AIM was the greatest IM client, however I do feel that the beta is a significant improvement of what I have seen in the past. It is though a smart idea to wait until it’s in the final stages to download it. I agree with you there because then all the bugs and fixes will be implemented into the program.

  • http://twitter.com/Micko9 Mick

    I think that AIM’s improvements will help, but I think that with sites and service like Meebo and others, AIM will still play 2nd.
    I have AIM because I like the ability to send files and start group chats, but some of theses are crossing over as well.

  • http://socialtechzone.com Frank

    I wonder though how many people are actually using Meebo. Even though my screen name is registered with AIM, I have always used either Pidgin or iChat. I notice that a lot of people are still using AIM and I don’t know if online services such as Meebo are actually going to outplay the AIM client itself. I think it would be best if it did. People would save space on their hard drive and save RAM space as well.