Apple should release iChat for Windows!!

s.metcalf

Seriously, Windows Live Messenger is a disaster. Hideous UI, bloated, full of ads, not to mention a piece of spyware. Apple should encourage people to be able to iChat with Windows users and I'd ditch MSN in a flash. It would encourage people to try iChat and see how an app should be designed

vinea

Quote:

Originally Posted by s.metcalf


Seriously, Windows Live Messenger is a disaster. Hideous UI, bloated, full of ads, not to mention a piece of spyware. Apple should encourage people to be able to iChat with Windows users and I'd ditch MSN in a flash. It would encourage people to try iChat and see how an app should be designed

Meh...iChat is one of those differntiators between OSX and Windows.



A Keynote VIEWER on the other hand would be wonderful for Windows. A taste of what life on the OSX side is like as a teaser...

ireland

I have been saying this for a while. And not that they should, but that they will. That could be why we didn't see iChat on the iPhone yet.

SpamSandwich

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinea


Meh...iChat is one of those differntiators between OSX and Windows.



A Keynote VIEWER on the other hand would be wonderful for Windows. A taste of what life on the OSX side is like as a teaser...

I like the Keynote viewer idea, but they should just buy a Mac instead.

vinea

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich


I like the Keynote viewer idea, but they should just buy a Mac instead.

Well...mostly it's for existing Mac users so we don't have to send a hacked up powerpoint conversion of our beautiful Keynote presentations. None of the exports are all that great so a native viewer would be great.

silviar

Well, as noted by a few others, iChat (and I agree, Keynote) are perks of using a Mac. The slick software is part of the reason I swtiched over to Mac. Yeah, there are tons of "options" for Windows applications, but most of them lack in some department or other. Whereas when I get Mac software, I know pretty much exactly what it can and cannot do.



Having said that, I do wish sometimes iChat was available for Windows, but I don't know how many people would actually use it. Most of the people I know who use Windows machines sneer when I say I have a Mac, and they shy away from Apple/Mac-originated software like it has rabies. The number of people who ask me if iTunes is safe and why would I want to use it make me wonder where exactly they get their information.

s.metcalf

OK, but I just don't see why you consider iChat as being a perk of using Macs but not Safari and iTunes. If anything Safari could have been kept Mac only wheras iChat is severely limited on the Mac because of its inability to chat with anyone on a PC. As such I rarely use it, given that most people own PCs and not Macs.



I agree that there is serious disdain from PC types about Mac software. I think they're just in denial abouut seeing anything better that might invalidate their choice of computer/operating system!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silviar


Well, as noted by a few others, iChat (and I agree, Keynote) are perks of using a Mac. The slick software is part of the reason I swtiched over to Mac. Yeah, there are tons of "options" for Windows applications, but most of them lack in some department or other. Whereas when I get Mac software, I know pretty much exactly what it can and cannot do.



Having said that, I do wish sometimes iChat was available for Windows, but I don't know how many people would actually use it. Most of the people I know who use Windows machines sneer when I say I have a Mac, and they shy away from Apple/Mac-originated software like it has rabies. The number of people who ask me if iTunes is safe and why would I want to use it make me wonder where exactly they get their information.

silviar

Quote:

Originally Posted by s.metcalf


OK, but I just don't see why you consider iChat as being a perk of using Macs but not Safari and iTunes. If anything Safari could have been kept Mac only wheras iChat is severely limited on the Mac because of its inability to chat with anyone on a PC. As such I rarely use it, given that most people own PCs and not Macs.



I agree that there is serious disdain from PC types about Mac software. I think they're just in denial abouut seeing anything better that might invalidate their choice of computer/operating system!

Hey, I never said I don't consider them perks. There are a lot of perks to owning a Mac. Although the two you mentioned are slightly different in that they can be used on more than Macs, so they aren't exclusive to the system.



The iChat not be able to talk to people on PCs? Wow, I don't know what you're doing, but I *never* have had problems using it to talk with my friends, and all but 1 of them uses a PC. Maybe that's a recent upgrade or something? I switched over to using Adium in the past several months.

southerndoc

Quote:

Originally Posted by s.metcalf


Seriously, Windows Live Messenger is a disaster. Hideous UI, bloated, full of ads, not to mention a piece of spyware. Apple should encourage people to be able to iChat with Windows users and I'd ditch MSN in a flash. It would encourage people to try iChat and see how an app should be designed

There is an iChat for Windows: AIM.



Seriously, iChat is one of the perks of using a Mac. I hope they never develop iChat for Windows.

Marvin

One thing that would make it useful is being able to help out PC users over the internet via screen sharing.



But the more apps that get ported to Windows, the less reason people will have to buy a Mac.