[Techtalk] Simple replacement for AIM with Pidgin

[David Sumbler]

I have an elderly friend, Margaret, who lives at a distance, and whose
computer I attempt to maintain remotely.  She really depends on me to
help her out when things go wrong - usually things like "not being able
to get any email", which often turns out to be simply that she has
accidentally closed up all the folders in Evolution.

I use Ubuntu 16.04, but Margaret is using Ubuntu 12.04.  Despite the
fact that support for this ends in April, I am reluctant to update it,
because any such change will confuse and upset her.  At the age of
nearly 90 she finds any change hard to cope with.

For years we have communicated via AIM using Pidgin.  Now it appears
that AOL are stopping this facility from the end of March.  So I need
something which can replace it.  It needs to be as simple to use as
what we are used to.

Can anyone suggest a service which we can use instead of AIM and which
will mean the minimum of change from Margaret's point of view?

David