GAIM: Lotus SameTime client replacement

When ING blocked the external IM ports I for one found the Lotus client lacking in features compared to the clients that we had been using. Well the other day on my Mac I noticed that the client I was using had an option for SameTime. This made me ask why we couldn't use a different client at work as well. So I did some looking and found several clients that said they had SameTime support. The client I had previously been using, Trillian, did mention SameTime support but only in their "Pro" version. Another client that said they support SameTime was GAIM. I have been using this client on my Linux box at home for a few years now and have been happy with it. It is free, open source software. There is a Windows port of this program and the rest of this post details my experience so far with it.

If you want to try GAIM for SameTime you first need to download the client using the link at the top of this page. Once downloaded go ahead and install the program. I used the default install options.

Next you will need the GAIM plugin for the SameTime protocol. This plugin is Meanwhile. It can be downloaded from this page. (Updated) Be sure to pick the Windows version. It should be the file with "win" in the name. Once downloaded you can run the install. It should place the plugin into the appropriate folder.

Next open GAIM. It will present you with a login dialog and most likely open the Accounts window. I believe you need to go into Tools->Preferences and select the Meanwhile plugin in the plugins section before adding an account. Forgive me but I don't remember the exact steps for this but I believe it was intuitive.

Once the plugin is active you should be able to use the accounts dialog to add a new account. Select Meanwhile in the type dropdown list. Enter your username and password. Your password should be the same one used for logging into Exchange. For the servername I cut and pasted out of the Lotus client settings. Here's a screenshot of my account settings.

You should now be ready to connect and start IM'ing. For me my buddy list appeared the second I successfully connected. Since it is stored on the server you can make changes here or in the Lotus client and both see the changes. The only area that I've had trouble figuring out in GAIM is adding new buddies. To do this I switch to the Lotus client, add the buddy, then go back to using GAIM.

From here you can go in and customize your settings in Tools->Preferences. I've turned on several of the plugins to improve the behavior as well as logging, conversation history, etc. Here's a screenshot of my pimped out IM client.


I've been using this client for a couple days now with no noticable problems. If all else fails we have the Lotus client to fall back on. Happy IM'ing!