IM: Gtalk –> AIM

I added you to my work IM client. Everything good with that?

Matt - most of the major clients (I tested about 10 for various platforms :P) support Multi User Conferences - by server services. Most servers run these. Most of the "good" clients also support gpg encryption, though you need a im protocol with enforced and standardized encryption silc may be better. The great thing about xmpp is the server/network interoperability, being open and all that is just a great way of achieving that.
File transfers are not an issue, most of the clients can transfer files. And if file transfers is a big thing for you a (s)ftp server may work better. :P

Well, I'm not a big IMer, but Arik's right. Adium seems to be a nice little program.

*cough*Adium*cough*

-- Arik

"In my client Gtalk doesn’t allow file transfers."

Yup. And there is no standard for encryption, video conferencing, or group chat in XMPP, either. I wish all the networks would switch to a standardized and open protocol, but the XMPP guys seem quite slow at deciding on implementation details. IM is so damn fragmented. Which is why I am sticking to passenger pigeons for the time being.

In my client Gtalk doesn't allow file transfers.

Sure it is.

So, why AIM is a richer experience and XMPP/Jabber/Gtalk/etc is not?

IS Gtalk a fancy name for Jabber?