Linux Must Be Making Inroads 2

There is now an AIM for Linux.

Of course, I wouldn’t use it on a bet.

Why should I, when I can use Kopete, which does AIM and almost everything else?

I was using Pidgin, which used to be GAIM, and which I have used for years in both Windows and Linux versions, but it broke my Opera.

Yes, it did. I opened it up to send an IM to Second Son, which is the most reliable way to reach him, then I left the house.

When I got back, X had crashed with a message that said, loosely paraphrased, “Pidgin did it. It wasn’t your fault. Send a message here.”

Since I wasn’t present when X crashed, there was no point in sending any message anywhere, because I didn’t have anything to report. Ever since then, Opera has been unable to display anything Flash (such as You Tube videos). There’s just a big hole where the video should be.

I tried removing and reinstalling Opera, but nada. I’m hoping that the next Opera upgrade overwrites whatever was torqued.

Since I haven’t had the energy to rebuild the computer–I’m saving that for the next version of Slack–I’ve been mucking about with Firefox and Thunderbird.

I’m not particularly impressed with Thunderbird; it’s just another clunky mail client, better than MS Lookout (but then what isn’t?), but not as good as Eudora or Pegasus, and its handling of newsgroups leaves a lot to be desired (for instance, there doesn’t seem to be a way to delete individual articles–you have to wait for them to expire, though you can set the expiration rule), but I have to say that Firefox is a nice piece of work.

In other news, I’ve followed the example of John Cole of Balloon Juice and included my AIM name on the sidebar. Now my two or three regular readers can harass me in real time, should they so desire.

I’ve also added the Phillies to my sidebar. Live with it.