As you know, Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client in Ubuntu and most Linux distributions. While I don't really enjoy Empathy, it has a few nice features, one of them being the ability to use Adium themes for the conversations (although some time ago it also worked for Pidgin, but I haven't tested it in Ubuntu Karmic Koala).

To be able to use Adium conversation styles (themes) in Empathy, [...]