I've been using Gaim for a few years now, on Windows and LInux, and I just
wanted to say that if Xubuntu doesn't come with a Gaim 2 beta, update it
(latest is Gaim 2.0.0beta6). Gaim 2 fixes a few MSN connectivity issues, has
a total rehaul of the configuration dialogs and plugin interfaces, and has a
lot of other overall interface improvements. It also comes with some cool
new plugins that you might want to play with (text replacement is actually
pretty nice (" u " is replaced with " you ", for example).