[Techtalk] Simple replacement for AIM with Pidgin

[Elwing]

> On Mar 3, 2017, at 3:01 AM, David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 

Google Talk/Jabber?  Both are supported by Pidgin and while you might have to do an initial setup of Pidgin for her to use it, she won’t really notice a difference.