Pidgin

After fighting a bit with Empathy, Gnome's default chat client, I decided to throw it away in favor of something that's a bit more customizable. Looking for the next best thing, my eyes quickly saw what I already endorse on my Maemo driven N900. Pidgin. Pidgin is a great client. Supports endless protocols, very light on the system and can be extended with plug-ins. If you feel like chatting from somewhere other than Microsoft's Live client, give Pidgin a try.