I really do not like the Windows Live Messenger interface, and every time they revise it, it gets even worse. I want to use a replacement, ...

but I don't want to lose the message history.

My company uses Messenger for discussion of technical problems, and I often need to visit the history to find a previous discussion.

Is there any substitute client that will use/continue the message history? It must also support file transfer.

I'm running Windows XP/Pro, as required by my company.