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jetta_gt · Oct 13, 2003, 08:02 PM

I am making the switch for the following reasons:

1. File transfer, I am started to use this more and more with clients.

2. iChat AV features, I have an iSight, might as well use it. The video is very laggy in my opinion, I find myself using it more as a VoIP app.

3. I like how if i use AIM online, all my contacts are synched.

4. Sometime in the future, when Apple gets it's act together and makes Mail/Address Book/iCal as powerful a suite as Entourage, I will switch to that combo. Since iChat uses the Address Book, i'll be part of the way there.

Things that are frustrating me so far about my switch:

1. I'd like to be able to sort by group, with the group heading above the names.

2. I'd like the exact time next to each post.

3. I'd like less confirmations, I know I am talking to someone, but I said goodbye and know I want to quit. Also, if the person is on my buddy list, accept the chat right away, no confirmation needed.

4. The biggest thing iChat needs is a tabbed message window
. I am NOT a tabs freak. I don't think tabs are the greatest thing in the world, I wasn't one of the masses begging for tabs in Safari (although I like them). But the best part about Adium is talking to 6 people at one time just by clicking through the tabs, and when someone sends a new message, the tab blinks. Again, tabs are not the answer to every GUI challenge, but in this case, they are perfect, talking to more than 2 people in iChat gets very unwieldy very quickly.

Those are the main things I can think of, other than that iChat is nice, but it needs some refinement and could really take a few cues from Adium's amazing ability to customize just about everything.

Anyone else trying to make this switch finding the lack of tabs hard to deal with? Share your hints and tricks for making the transition easier...

Happy chatting!

King Bob On The Cob · Oct 13, 2003, 08:10 PM

Originally posted by jetta_gt:

2. iChat AV features, I have an iSight, might as well use it. The video is very laggy in my opinion, I find myself using it more as a VoIP app.

Limit the bandwidth. You'll be surprised at how well it looks.

jetta_gt · Oct 13, 2003, 11:52 PM

I will try that, but even on an amazingly fast network, I still notice the latency... I think i am just particularly sensitive to it, even a quarter second off bothers me...

Believe it or not, the best VoIP application I've seen is Madden 2004's online chat feature.

Xeo · Oct 14, 2003, 01:48 AM

Moving to software.

mindwaves · Oct 14, 2003, 02:58 AM

Wait until Adium2 comes out. File transfers, away message viewing and the works is all planned.

moki · Oct 14, 2003, 03:05 AM

I made the same switch from Adium to iChat a while ago. My main motivation was that iChat (like AIM) keeps the buddy lists stored on the server, and because I use 3 machines daily, it was just too much work keeping them manually synced with Adium.

It got even better with iSync, any contact I added with an AIM name was instantly available, and the integration with Mail.app is nice too.

File transfer and other such features were nice bonuses, and while I thought the "text bubbles" were just eye candy at first, I've come to like the way they distinguish who said what.

I use video chat almost never, and voice chat rarely.

DigitalEl · Oct 14, 2003, 06:06 AM

I haven't touched iChat since the very first version. Do you still have to manually place and adjust the size of chat windows every time you use it (if you're anal about such things)?

Safari Enhancer fixed a similar issue in that program, but I don't know whether it's still a problem in iChat DV.

eevyl · Oct 14, 2003, 06:27 AM

I barely use the AV features of iChat. I am switching to Adium 2 (alpha stage still), because of how much customizable is. Also the IM tabbed windows are really usefull, at least for me.

There are other geeky reasons as being able to sneak peak at the code and in fact help developing it, but from a user interface perspective, I like it more than iChat A/V.

ae86_16v · Oct 21, 2003, 11:25 PM

How come I can't send messages in Adium w/ the enter/return even with the enter and return clicked under preferiences?

jetta_gt · Oct 31, 2003, 04:02 PM

One major grip i have is that no matter how many times i create groups in iChat AV, after a while, they simply disappear....

This is really annoying...

phillryu · Oct 31, 2003, 04:24 PM

I believe the AIM buddy syncing will come with Oscar (which is already going along very well, as I said in another post, expect MSN, Oscar, Jabber, Yahoo, IRC, ICQ, the WORKS by Christmas

Oh... and voice chat.

Agasthya · Nov 4, 2003, 03:24 PM

Originally posted by phillryu:
I believe the AIM buddy syncing will come with Oscar (which is already going along very well, as I said in another post, expect MSN, Oscar, Jabber, Yahoo, IRC, ICQ, the WORKS by Christmas

Oh... and voice chat.

OSCAR support was dropped because they'd need to write a whole new plugin. They are now incorporating the GAIM libraries and its coming along quite nicely.

jokell82 · Nov 4, 2003, 04:04 PM

Originally posted by Agasthya:
OSCAR support was dropped because they'd need to write a whole new plugin. They are now incorporating the GAIM libraries and its coming along quite nicely.

Oscar support is in libgaim. I've been testing it recently and it's coming along quite nicely...

Agasthya · Nov 4, 2003, 05:51 PM

Originally posted by jokell82:
Oscar support is in libgaim. I've been testing it recently and it's coming along quite nicely...

Well they were working on a separate Oscar plugin for Adium 2 (Which I have if anyone wants) and I guess it was too much work or something..