It may be freeware, but never let it be said that the people developing it weren't focused on the project.

Adium, the open source instant message chat client with support for multiple programs (including AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo! Google Talk, Bonjour, etc.) has been updated to version 1.2.1.

The new version, a 19.5 megabyte download, offers the following features and changes:
-Group chats now reconnect automatically when their accounts reconnect after being disconnected (#1880).
-Greatly improved accessibility, including the chat window, the Accounts, Events, and -Advanced preference panes, the File Transfer progress window, and the contact list
-Fixed a major memory leak which occurred when closing chats (regressed in Adium 1.2) and several minor memory leaks.
-Decreased Adium's memory footprint.
-Jabber conferences now use the account's display name as the handle by default (#8757).
-Fixed certificate checks for Google Talk accounts.
-Fixed issues with mobile contacts being used from within a metacontact even though an online non-mobile contact could be used.
-Improved performance when connecting multiple accounts with saved passwords.
-Fixed updating of tab icons when the account or contact of a chat changes.
-Fixed retention of the minimum text entry height in message windows (#8759).
-Fixed the "Get Info for Contact" prompt (#8756).
-Fixed display of the revert overlay on manually-set icons in the Get Info window.
-Fixed a crash which could occur when dragging the contact list.
-Fixed a crash which could occur when importing logs from iChat (#8729).
-Fixed sending of links over MSN (#8535).
-Fixed the menu bar status item's account menu, which could previously display the contact menu instead in some cases.
-Fixed the Address Book scripts and the %_statusMessage script to work with Adium 1.2 (#8817).
-Fixed issues with Jabber certificate checking (#8787).
-Fixed a crash when a Jabber account was set to automatically accept authorization requests.
-Worked around a bug connecting to old OpenFire servers since Adium 1.2 (#8803).
-Fixed a crash after showing an authorization request window and then disconnecting (#8886).
-Fixed the 'Always show this contact regardless of status' setting for contacts in the Get Info window.
-Fixed missing carriage returns when copying from some message styles (#6893).
-Fixed linkification of IP addresses on 10.5 (#7839).
-Fixed determination of the song title when playing a stream in iTunes.
-Fixed ampersands in HTML links (#8445).
-Added the Add Bookmark toolbar item to the default toolbar (#8772).
-Stopped obnoxious flickering of the mouse cursor after sending a message (#5651).
-Fixed manual reordering when not showing contact list groups (#8884).
-Fixed filenames created by dragging out of image wells when the contact's name starts with a period (#6102).
-Fixed an errant line at the bottom of the message window (#8657).
-Fixed updating of the Variants menu after changing the Style in the Messages preferences (#8234).
-Fixed Yahoo accounts connecting if @yahoo.com is included in the user name.
-Updated the Stockholm message style (#8353).
-Fixed the "Show the file transfer window automatically" preference.

Applescript fixes:
-Added date opened property (#8859).
-Fixed retrieval of account status messages (#8820).
-Fixed access and setting of account and contact user icons (#8818).
-Allowed access to service images for accounts.
-Fixed a crash when interacting with message windows (#8821).
-Fixed the "Go Online" applescript action.
-Added a global status property.
-Fixed several localization issues.
-Updated Norwegian localization.
-Added Slovenian localization.

Adium X is available for free and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run. The program functions as a Universal Binary and runs at native speeds on both PowerPC and Intel-based hardware.

If you've tried the new build and have any feedback, positive or negative, let us know in the comments or forums.