AIM 6 finally supports offline messaging

Although I use mostly MSN Messenger and ICQ, I have AIM also installed to get in touch with certain people who use this application. The one big minus of this instant messaging client was the lack of offline messages. This feature is supported by ICQ for years and the latest version of MSN (Live) Messenger supports it now as well. AOL has returned to number-based versioning after launching AIM Triton last year. AIM 6 is the next iteration of Triton, which was named to emphasize that it was a completely new instant messaging platform rewritten from the ground up, but caused some confusion among AIM users. Beta 2 of AIM 6 introduces a number of user interface changes to the popular IM client. Window buttons, menu items and even the color schemes used by the software have been reworked.

AOL has removed Triton’s “IM Catcher” feature and replaced it with an Away Status window and an Unknown Sender’s curtain.The Away Status window shows up when set as “away” and lets users disable sounds and pop-up notifications. Unlike previous versions of the client, users can remain away and still send messages to buddies. The Unknown Sender dialog catches messages from those not on a user’s list, and can be used to report IM spam. Offline messages, a feature long offered by Yahoo and AOL’s own ICQ service, are a new addition to AIM 6. Messages sent to a buddy who is not connected will appear when they next sign online, accompanied by a System Message that lets the recipient disable the feature if desired. AOL has restricted the functionality to reduce abuse, however, and users can only send and/or receive 40 offline messages in 24 hours. Good work.