Short intro to Gaim,
Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr networks. Gaim has the ability to connect to multiple IM services at the same time which greatly improved the IM experiance for the end users.
Gaim no more, but Pidgin.
Gaim is now known as Pidgin. The name change was a result of the long awaited settlement between AOL and Gaim. This was a long process and no beta releases were made public during this period due to legal implications.
“Pidgin” was a name deliberately chosen. See what it means, Pidgin at Wikipedia
The official release Pidgin 2.0.0 will be released in the coming weeks.