Galago is a desktop presence framework, designed to transmit presence information between programs. To put it in simpler terms, it takes information on who is online and their away/idle states from an instant messenger (such as gaim) or other similar programs and lets other programs (such as Ximian's Evolution) to make use of it.

The advantage of such a framework is that it brings your programs closer together. When you receive an e-mail from a friend who is in your buddy list, you'll be able to immediately tell their online status, for example.

Galago is desktop-neutral, and will in time provide easy to use widgets for Gtk+ and Qt applications. Currently, Gtk+ widgets are available in our Subversion repository under the module name libgalago-gtk. Qt widgets will be available in time.