what's missing from the new iChat? make your list ....
what's missing from the new iChat? make your list ....
my list is made from just one point
a easy way to share screens between multiple users, like in a conference call, I know that there is ARD 2.2 and VNC, but not everybody is a unix savy for VNC or has a lic of ARD 2.2...
my list is made from just one point
a easy way to share screens between multiple users, like in a conference call, I know that there is ARD 2.2 and VNC, but not everybody is a unix savy for VNC or has a lic of ARD 2.2...
Comments
I have a couple gripes
First of all, and foremost, you can't change your damn buddy name!!! You have to mess around with your Address Book ID and it HAS to be 2 words.. no more, no less.
Its REALLY ancient and simplistic.
I *ONLY* use iChat when I video conference. Thats it. Otherwise I'm using Adium.
Tabbed messaging, recent conversation list, unlimited interface modding, etc.
It was "cool" 2 years ago. Now its just simple and antiquated.
The worst is that, from what I understand, someone from Adium team went to help/work for Apple and the iChat 3.0. I don't see any influence of the interface on iChat. At all.
If Adium could somehow use the A/V ablities of iChat, I would ditch iChat altogether.
Audio conference for me is Skype all the way.
Ciao Apple.
Originally posted by Aquatic
Seriously. iChat sucks. It could be the best but it is almost the worst. It is full of bugs, it is less compatible than even the ancient AIM X or open source clones. Can you even make a profile yet? Pff.
yes you can actually make a profile in the latest iChat in Tiger. Simply go to Buddies -> Change my Profile and bam you can make a profile. Granted it will not handle basic html code like AIM X does but it's just as good. I personally use iChat every single day and have used it for Video Conference for 2 hours yesterday and I absolutely love it. Only complaint is it tries to do a direct connection if you simply drag a jpg into the ichat convo to send to someone.
(Which would be more elegant than iGlasses)
adding a function to register a jabber account on some server (perhaps choose your own)
add functionality to change your password(s)
add functionality to look for jabber gateways, subscribe to them, ... .
the new adium x is way better than ichat in tiger..
I can see how the new method is an improved interface, but it doesn't fit in with my workflow very well. Doh!
Guess I'll just have to get used to it.
Granted it will not handle basic html code like AIM X does but it's just as good.
So they finally added it but it's still half-assed.
Tabs. Tabs
So I get to use Adium which, other than video chat, seems to be better anyway.
Originally posted by jabohn
iChat is useless to me because nobody I know uses AIM or .mac. I've never met anyone who didn't use MSN.
and i've never met anyone who used MSN.
Originally posted by badtz
and i've never met anyone who used MSN.
Well, you've just met one.
Originally posted by ZO
VNC would be a VERY nice +
VNC is very nice. I don't know what it has to do with iChat though.
Maybe I'm being short-sighed, but I can't think of a single reason for it to be a part of an IM app like iChat. I think it would be nice if Apple added a virtual whiteboard feature, but I hardly think it's necessary. To me, these are features that should be a part of an entire virtual-meeting application that c/sh/would integrate with iChat.
First of all, and foremost, you can't change your damn buddy name!!! You have to mess around with your Address Book ID and it HAS to be 2 words.. no more, no less.
I have plenty of buddies with just 1 name. I just leave their last name blank in Address Book. I do agree with you, though. I don't want everyone's full name to appear in my buddy list. I want their first name, or in some cases a nickname. I would love if Apple added a "nickname" field to Address Book entries for this purpose.
Its REALLY ancient and simplistic.
Ancient? They update it with every OS release so it's never older than a year! It does video chat better than any other IM client out there. How is it ancient?
And since when is simple software a bad thing? I consider simplicity a selling point for applications. What use is a new feature if it's complicated? Most people just won't bother with it.
Tabbed messaging, recent conversation list, unlimited interface modding, etc.
Tabbed messaging would be nice. I probably wouldn't use it because I never really chat with more than 2 people at a time, but I can see how it would be useful to people with more friends than me
Recent conversations lists can easily be approximated by smart folders, but it wouldn't hurt to integrate them into the main program.
The only real beef I have with this list (and I expect just about everyone who reads this will disagree with me) is "unlimited interface modding". Skinnable windows have never made me start using an app, but they've sure made me stop. Why? Skinned windows almost never behave the same way as non-skinned ones because, frequently, the developers of a skinnable app end up having to reimplement all kinds of things that the OS gives non-skinned apps for free. Basic things like, say, a button, or a title bar, or the frickin' minimize widget. Consistency is a good thing. Skinning is a cancer (IMO, obviously
I'm glad they made it easier to tell a person's "mobile" status, that was one of my beefs.
Originally posted by jabohn
iChat is useless to me because nobody I know uses AIM or .mac. I've never met anyone who didn't use MSN.
That's what Jabber support is for.
Speaking of which, they really need to enhance iChat to allow folks to set-up and configure Jabber from inside the app, instead of having to fire up Psi or another client to do so.
Secondly, a .Mac Jabber server would rock.
Yeah.
Originally posted by Kesh
That's what Jabber support is for.
But doesn't Jabber require setting up some kind of server? That's what I understood.
Originally posted by jabohn
But doesn't Jabber require setting up some kind of server? That's what I understood.
Not quite. There are a large number of Jabber servers that other people have set up. You just create an account on one of those, set up your other accounts (MSN, Yahoo, etc.), and then plug the account info into iChat.
Right now, I'm using jabber.org.uk for mine, since the server I was using earlier doesn't seem to work with iChat.
iChat itself doesn't have the ability to sign you up for the Jabber service, though, so you have to use another client to do that step, then just plug your account info into iChat.
This is a great tutorial on setting up MSN for iChat via Jabber. I don't use MSN personally, but I prefer to use Jabber for ICQ and Yahoo messaging, so it's nice to have that in iChat.
Now if I can figure out how to enable IRC via Jabber in iChat...
Originally posted by JonE
Does iChat support talking to invisible buddies yet?
Yes, it does. 'bout damn time too.
Originally posted by Kesh
This is a great tutorial on setting up MSN for iChat via Jabber. I don't use MSN personally, but I prefer to use Jabber for ICQ and Yahoo messaging, so it's nice to have that in iChat.
Does the person(s) running the Jabber server then get access to your plaintext passwords? Since I use my Passport account for other things, I am a little leery about giving my password to people in a foreign land...
Originally posted by mikef
Does the person(s) running the Jabber server then get access to your plaintext passwords? Since I use my Passport account for other things, I am a little leery about giving my password to people in a foreign land...
I used to use Proeus X for IM as it supports MSN accounts (directly, BTW, not through jabber). I read that ichat 3 supported jabber and have tried that the last few days.
What I find the most annoying is that it doesn't use the groups in AddressBook. If I have a contact within "group1" in AddressBook, it should be placed in that group in iChat as well. In addition to that I do not like the fact that you need one window for each person you are chatting with, and Proteus had a very nice way of hanling multiple IM sessions through a drawer.
I wish Apple would update iChat to do basic things like this.
Also, as someone mentioned, a .mac jabber server would be nice. However I do understand why Apple does not offer one, as using Jabber (or a third party client) probably voids the agreement made to the owner of the IM service (MSN, Yahoo, etc).