I have used lots of IM clients but ultimately, I use pidgin at work (mostly for the sametime integration which is pretty craptastic) and digsby at home. I think its a little unfair/reactionary to call it a "pidgin rip-off" .... it supports more protocols (ie GMail, twitter, facebook) and obviously it's impressing some people.

Also, I like to hate on social networking like everyone else, but seriously....access to facebook/linked in/myspace shouldn't *deduct* points just because you arent into it.