Since MSN Messenger is only for the Windows platform, this is a good alternative while you are on Linux.
According to the project description it supports;
- All 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP)
- All POSIX (Linux/BSD/UNIX-like OSes)
- Linux
- OS X
I tried it on Mandrake Linux 10.0 and it worked fine. AMNS is provided with a variation of plug-ins for the look and feel.
AMSN - MSN messenger clone