In OS X I’ve downloaded aol AIM. Version 4.578 for OS X. I was using AIM in OS 9 v 4.3.1232. In the os 9 version everyone on my list shows up fine and I can instant message them. Even when it’s launched through OS X Classic. But The OS X version doesn’t see the folks on my buddy list. They never become “online” active. Any ideas out there. I’ve reinstalled-trashed preferences, etc…
I work in OS X exclusively and try and use OS X apps only.

A silly suggestion on my part, but did you make sure the little triangle for your online buddies is pointed down and not to the right?  If it is pointed to the right then your buddies may be recognized as being online but your buddy list is hidden.

If that still doesn’t work you should also try the program Fire .  It lets you connect to AIM, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Jabber, and IRC—and all in one buddy list in one program.  It’s really convenient for me since I actively communicate with people in three of these services (AIM, ICQ, and MSN).  It saves system resources and prevents confustion if you only have one program open for all of these services.  To top it off it’s a Cocoa program, so it has built-in scroll wheel support unlike most Carbonized programs including the official AIM.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David Nelson on 2001-09-18 23:41 ]</font>

I have yet to try it out but there is a new AIM client today called Adium:
http://homepage.mac.com/adamiser/Adium/index.html

Definitely dump the AIM client and try either Fire or Adium.  I like Fire a lot, but haven’t tried Adium yet.  Adium has the bonus of reading your buddies which AIM stores on its servers.  Fire does not do that.

I’ve been using Adium a couple days now and really like it. It’s definitely worth trying.