Can Pidgin 2.6(.1) replace Empathy for Karmic now?

[Omer]

Hello,

I know I'm opening up a huge can of worms right now, but Pidgin 2.6.1
just came out. This release brings voice and video support for XMPP (and
GMail). This was, as I understand it, one of the most important features
of Empathy that got it included as the default over Pidgin. I think many
people were sad to see Pidgin go as the default, so maybe this will
change enough people's minds back onto the Pidgin side. On the other
hand, it might be too late to be having this kind of discussion.

Omer