For about the past year I've been running www.DIGSBY.com as my Windows Based IM program that let's my chat on all networks.. It's totally free but I guess sometimes free has it's own price..

FREE seems to have resulted in Lost Messages, Undelivered stuff, unable to log into certain networks for several hours, screwed up webcam support and more..

Before I became a short lived MAC junkie I also used a thing called Trillian but it was bit "hinky" at times too and I didn't want to waste $$$ to register something "hinky"...

Well low and behold.. Trillian has grown up into a powerful system called Trillian ASTRA and the hard work is clearly visible. You can read all about it here: http://www.trillian.im/ and for a mere $25 bucks the thing is no longer "hinky".. but I'll warn you.. there is a small learning curve in setting all your Yahoo, AIM, Twitter, Gtalk, Myspace networks up... and yes, it will allow you to do webcams too and not have to jump through gobs of hoops in the process.

Ok, so the choice... Free IM program that does most of the major networks but has it's share of annoying connection issues resulting somtimes in days of downtime... Or Trillian ASTRA which you buy and you get support, and you have more than just a support forum with loads of "Yeah the problem is here too.. blah blah.. Yeah it does it on mine too.. blah blah"

The bottom line, I have two 64-Bit computers.. One using Intel.. and the other using AMD.. Come October I'm going to be running Windows 7 and I don't want to deal with "...blah blah blah" problem tech support with things. Or, someting like "... I haven't tested it on a computer with a 64-bit process because I can't afford one.. blah blah blah..."

I love my HP TouchSmart Laptop and Desktop and moving to them was the best thing I could have ever done.. The only issue I have with the x64 is the inability to run my OneTouch-ULTRA Diabetes Meter software so I use a wimpy little Netbook with WinXP for that. Hopeful in the future the OneTouch dudes will get a clue and fix their drivers and stuff.

Running VISTA, both of these machines are powerful enough to kick the shit outta the OS X MAC's I have including the iMAC desktop and white MacBook.

I dont' have to kiss butt to edit MS-Access files. I can design websites with NetObjects Fusion and not have to emulate a Windows environment to do it slowly.. I can do it even faster than my puny 32-bit Toshiba Laptop that cost almost 'double' what the HP desktop did only two years ago.

There was a time when I really hated HP and how they grew too fast.. but as the first consumer based Touch-Screen desktop on the market, it would seem that they have learned many social lessons.. It would also seem that Microsoft has done so also since Win-7 has recently been acknowledged/admired as one of the best OS releases since Win-2000.

Anyhow.. for me.. I've learned that sometimes FREE isn't always the best way to go...

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Posted By OaklawnM4M - Rick Wagner to MysticWays.com Store News at 8/14/2009 09:13:00 AM