Download Google Talk. If you don't have an account, you can email me at jasontconnell [the AT sign] gmail [the dot] com and I'll gladly hook a brotha or sista up. Apparently they are opening gmail soon though, or it is open, I can't tell. I have six accounts, I have no need nor desire to find out. :) It's a clean interface, no ads, no nothing. Just a list of contacts. Click a contact and you can type to them, or click the "call" button, and start talking through a microphone and they will hear it on their end. That's really all there is to report.

I'm glad it's simple. Everyone else tries to get everyone to use their IM client by packing it with webcam stuff, extra toolbars and everything (I'm looking at you MSN Messenger), popping up windows to a "Today" page with news, crap, junk, garbage, and email alerts. Google's philosophy (which has worked wonders for them, cripes, look at their corporate website for Pete's sake... nothing but an image, a textbox and a few buttons and some links below all that, and then some company info), is make S@#%#@$ simple. This philosophy is shared among many many companies, but only Google manages to excel at it.