iChat sucks, I want my AIM

the_macmanthe_macman
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
I'm pissed with iChat. I've found out that ichat integrates itself with Mac OS X address book and not with AIM's BuddyList network. People appear by their full names rather than by their SN. iChat fails to download the list from AIM and now my list is all screwed up. I must have about 38 AIM buddies but ichat only shows about 20. How can I force ichat to download it's list from the AIM network?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Don't use iChat if you don't like it.



    Oh, and welcome to the boards!
  • Reply 2 of 23
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    Oh, and welcome to the boards!



    You've said that a lot lately, haven't you?
  • Reply 3 of 23
    macusersmacusers Posts: 840member
    iChat is awesome... AIM sucks
  • Reply 4 of 23
    jwilljwill Posts: 209member
    iChat has some bugs to be pulled out of it and maybe allow us to make profiles.



    It'll be the best after that. For now, it is pretty good.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CubeDude

    You've said that a lot lately, haven't you?



    Heh, yeah I have. There have been a lot of new people here.



    Anyway, what I do sometimes is I get info for a user, and I change their name so instead of being "John Smith" I get "John Smith (aimuser77)." So if you want their screen names and real names to be visible you can just add their screen name to the end of their last name. Or you can replace their entire name with their screen name, or you could just use AIM. It's up to you.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    spartspart Posts: 2,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    Heh, yeah I have. There have been a lot of new people here.



    Anyway, what I do sometimes is I get info for a user, and I change their name so instead of being "John Smith" I get "John Smith (aimuser77)." So if you want their screen names and real names to be visible you can just add their screen name to the end of their last name. Or you can replace their entire name with their screen name, or you could just use AIM. It's up to you.



    Bah. That's not the way to go about it.



    If you hover the pointer over your buddy in the iChat buddy list, you can see what screen name or screen names they are using. With iChat AV, at the beginning of chats you see the user's screen name next to their names.



    For me, iChat uses whatever screen name list AOL keeps online just fine. When I login, it downloads the list; it doesn't use a local copy. If a screen name in that list is also part of your Address Book, then it will slap the user's actually name on. I find this to be quite handy, as I tend to remember real names better than a thousand screen names that generally mean absolutely nothing to me.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    kelibkelib Posts: 740member
    iChat is not that bad. I just wish it could replace my ICQ. Now, that program *really* sux
  • Reply 8 of 23
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    iChat works with ICQ. Just type in the person's ICQ number as their screen name and it should work.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    kelibkelib Posts: 740member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    iChat works with ICQ. Just type in the person's ICQ number as their screen name and it should work.



    Doesn't work for me for some reason Will look at it more closely 2morrow
  • Reply 10 of 23
    dog almightydog almighty Posts: 464member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    iChat works with ICQ. Just type in the person's ICQ number as their screen name and it should work.



    Hmm, despite the fact that ICQ is barely used by anyone anymore, that is interesting. Why not MSN connectivity? I argued that they should implement this in iChat, but was told Apple has some trust agreement with AOL or something, and it would be "rude" to include MSN with iChat. All Apple has to do is negotiate with Microsoft to get it. How hard could that be?
  • Reply 11 of 23
    mokimoki Posts: 551member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Dog Almighty

    Hmm, despite the fact that ICQ is barely used by anyone anymore, that is interesting. Why not MSN connectivity?



    Depends on where you are. In many countries, ICQ is extremely widely used, dominating the IM market.



    As for why it has ICQ connectivity, AOL purchased ICQ, and is integrating AIM/ICQ cross-communication. It has little to do with iChat.



    For the original topic starter: iChat *does* download your buddy list from the server. The only thing it does re: AddressBook is give your buddies real names if they have an AIM name listed.
  • Reply 12 of 23
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Moving to Digital Hub, home of the iApp discussions.
  • Reply 13 of 23
    mswmsw Posts: 5member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    iChat works with ICQ. Just type in the person's ICQ number as their screen name and it should work.



    True if the one you add uses latest ICQ Lite version, so you have to talk all your buddies into use that version...
  • Reply 14 of 23
    qnationalqnational Posts: 8member
    I'm not sure how iChat works with a mac.com address, but I use it with my AOL screenname.



    I find the hardest bit managing the Buddy List as I have to either go into AIM/AOL, add the person to my buddy list there, then when they appear in my iChat list I have to attach that person to a card in my address book. If I already have their screenname in my Address Book, then the name will be automatically associated.



    Its a bit annoying having to add buddies in two places, but I've gotten used to it. Although I would really like it a lot more if the Address Book could update AOL's buddy lists as well.



    I probably wouldn't have this problem if I was using my mac.com address instead of an AOL address, eh? I could use my mac.com account for iChat, but too many people have my AOL screenname already.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    gizzmonicgizzmonic Posts: 511member
    I really hate the fact that iChat screws up the formatting of normal chats, so that I can't quote a part of one AIM conversation into someone else's window.



    I also hate the fact that iChat's log format is some obfuscated crapola (why isn't it HTML or XML?). I use Adium most of the time...it's crashy but has a more functional UI (if not as pretty) and uses less than 1% CPU most of the time.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacUsers

    iChat is awesome... AIM sucks



    AIM's not awesome, but iChat sucks.
  • Reply 17 of 23
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    One thing I wish iChat would do is store chat logs on a per user basis instead of a per chat basis. I hate having to go through 25 different chat logs for a single person.



    I think the latest MSN implementation is pretty nice. If not that out there, maybe something like the way proteus does it. One DB file that stores you conversations.



    I don't use profiles or non of that stuff. I actually like how simplified iChat is. I don't need all that extra non-sense.
  • Reply 18 of 23
    danieldaniel Posts: 50member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by foad

    One thing I wish iChat would do is store chat logs on a per user basis instead of a per chat basis. I hate having to go through 25 different chat logs for a single person.



    I think the latest MSN implementation is pretty nice. If not that out there, maybe something like the way proteus does it. One DB file that stores you conversations.



    I don't use profiles or non of that stuff. I actually like how simplified iChat is. I don't need all that extra non-sense.



    Check out http://spiny.com/logorrhea/ or one of the other iChat Log programs. As I use iChat for business those come in handy.



    Daniel
  • Reply 19 of 23
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Daniel

    Check out http://spiny.com/logorrhea/ or one of the other iChat Log programs. As I use iChat for business those come in handy.



    Daniel



    YOU RULE STUFF DANIEL!!!
  • Reply 20 of 23
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    AIM's not awesome, but iChat sucks.



    Yup.



    Nothing else has all the features the official AIM has. And what really pisses me off is that AIM itself lacks most PC features like Talk, which was even in the Classic version. AOL really sucks. I wish everyone would switch to Yahoo Instant Messenger or something else. Whoever does the OS X AIM port, you suck. Personally. It keeps getting updated but they haven't fixed bugs that are YEARS old, like Smilies randomly not working, text turning black and losing its format after pasting in a link, or not having Talk.



    MSN...who uses MSN? Why? Why are they your friend?



    If Apple beat AOL to the punch with Talk and also supporting video compatibility (now that the FCC ban was there..why was it there anyway!??) with PC AIM, Mac AIM or whatever else that would just be awesome.
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