Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

macintologist · Sep 12, 2004, 05:29 PM

Edit: If you use iChat as well as one of the other options, then select the other options. For example I use Fire and iChat together, so I selected Fire in the poll.
Which do you use, for how long (if you used something else before) and why?

I use Fire and have been for a year and half. The reason I don't try out the other programs is because all my chat logs are in Fire and I don't wanna loose them or be inconvenienced. I've heard a lot of good things recently about Adium. And of course, iChat is awesome. What about Proteus fans?

Ludovic Hirlimann · Sep 13, 2004, 02:22 AM

Does IRC count's has IM ?

eevyl · Sep 13, 2004, 06:59 AM

Originally posted by Ludovic Hirlimann:
Does IRC count's has IM ?

No.

utidjian · Sep 13, 2004, 07:09 AM

I use gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net). It is easy to install via fink.

I have tried iChat but found it annoying (user interface) and limited (features).

Randman · Sep 13, 2004, 07:11 AM

Results are going to be skewed if you vote for other if you use iChat and something else.

I use iChat and MSN messenger. I've messed around with Adium and it looks interesting but I haven't switched over to it.

Turnpike · Sep 13, 2004, 07:17 AM

you're not supposed to vote for "other" if you use iChat and something else... you vote for something else if you use them both, and they are both options.

I used to be a Proteus user. Before that I was a Fire user. Now I'm an Adium user. I still use iChat for file transfer and DC, though, 'cause I'm never sure if it is working in the current build of Adium or not

Oh, I compile from the SVN for Adium. Just have to add some excitement to an otherwise stable IM experience.

Randman · Sep 13, 2004, 07:18 AM

Can't the mods change it so you can vote for both?

Turnpike · Sep 13, 2004, 07:27 AM

If vBulletin offers checkbox polls, and mods are able to change from one style to the other, that'd be sweet.

Of course, that'd bring up the question of what to do about people that already voted in the radio buttons..

and what if I use proteus like once every couple weeks, to see if it's changed? Should that count? man, that'd be confusing. we wouldn't want confusion.

ManOfSteal · Sep 13, 2004, 08:41 AM

Turnpike · Sep 13, 2004, 08:48 AM

Oh, how I wish there were an Ichiro duck...

(There is an Edgar duck... it was a freebee if you came to the game some day. I think you had to be under 14 to get one, though

)

badidea · Sep 13, 2004, 08:51 AM

ManOfSteal · Sep 13, 2004, 08:53 AM

Originally posted by Turnpike:
Oh, how I wish there were an Ichiro duck...

Contact Wesley and see if he'll make you one eventually...

ambush · Sep 13, 2004, 09:24 AM

Where is aMSN?

VEGAN · Sep 13, 2004, 09:49 AM

Originally posted by eevyl:
No.

Why doesn't IRC count as IM?

After all, IMs can't do much more than IRC can, so I'm confused.
I only use XChat [irc]

Zimphire · Sep 13, 2004, 10:22 AM

I'll use Adium unless iChat goes multi-protocol.

Millennium · Sep 13, 2004, 10:26 AM

Originally posted by VEGAN:
Why doesn't IRC count as IM?

After all, IMs can't do much more than IRC can, so I'm confused.
I only use XChat [irc]

Does IRC count as IM if you use BitlBee? It's an IRC-to-IM gateway which lets you view many different IM networks in any IRC client. They run some public servers, or you can download and use it on your own machine.

As for iChat going multi-protocol: in Tiger it will, sort of. The iChat Server set to be included in Tiger Server uses XMPP, also known as Jabber, meaning you can connect to any Jabber server. By itself that wouldn't mean much, but most Jabber servers have multi-service gateways, so that you can chat with people on multiple services through Jabber. It's pretty neat.

threestain · Sep 13, 2004, 10:40 AM

Adium, having gone from: MSN on PC, to Trillian, to mac and iChat, Fire, Proteus and finally now to Adium.

All the others just don't do it for me I'm afraid!

Turnpike · Sep 13, 2004, 11:31 AM

if iChat had been multi-protocol when it came out, I might have stuck with it. I'm not going back though when it gains the Jabber protocol... Adium's interface just seems so much better. Less wasteful of screen real estate (and I'm a stickler about that... I don't even use a laptop!)

jguidroz · Sep 13, 2004, 11:59 AM

Adium

Thain Esh Kelch · 12:18 PM

Originally posted by VEGAN:
Why doesn't IRC count as IM?

After all, IMs can't do much more than IRC can, so I'm confused.
I only use XChat [irc]

You dont send instant messages to a specific user, at general, but just messages to a large chat-room...

[Edit:] Oh, and Proteus! But I plan on switching to Adium at the 0.7 release..

Turnpike · Sep 13, 2004, 12:27 PM

shh! don't bring up 0.70! they'll have to kill us all!

Truepop · Sep 13, 2004, 02:15 PM

Adium svn builds.

mindwaves · Sep 13, 2004, 02:27 PM

Adium since v1.2

macintologist · Sep 13, 2004, 05:25 PM

Originally posted by Zimphire:
I'll use Adium unless iChat goes multi-protocol.

I thought you were the big Fire apologist.

Btw does anyone know when Fire is gonna "modernize"?

Turnpike · Sep 13, 2004, 06:23 PM

I think they have that scheduled for the x86 release of the MacOS

Catfish_Man · Sep 13, 2004, 07:14 PM

Originally posted by Turnpike:
I think they have that scheduled for the x86 release of the MacOS

Dang, I was hoping I'd be able to run Fire on OS X IA-64 sometime soon...

thePurpleGiant · Sep 13, 2004, 08:24 PM

Proteus here, version 4 is very nice.

Buck_W · Sep 13, 2004, 09:48 PM

Can you video chat with anything other than iChat? We love being able to video conference with my daughter who's away at school. If iChat is the only game in town, then I wouldn't even consider using another app.

Zimphire · Sep 13, 2004, 09:50 PM

WOW almost 40% of users use Adium.

I would have thought iChat would be on top, and Adium and Proteus would be a lot closer.

Looks like some Proteus users have switched.

Horsepoo!!! · Sep 13, 2004, 09:53 PM

Originally posted by macintologist:
I thought you were the big Fire apologist.

Btw does anyone know when Fire is gonna "modernize"?

Zimphire doesn't know what he is. I think he's just a whatever-apologist.

Zimphire · Sep 13, 2004, 11:07 PM

Originally posted by macintologist:
I thought you were the big Fire apologist.

Apologist? I used it at one time when It was the better of the multi-server IM clients. I liked it better than Proteus.

But since the new Adium has came out I have been using it.

I don't have any emotional attachments to software like some people do. I use whatever is best.

And right at this moment in time it's Adium.

If another starts getting better, I'll probably use it.

Zimphire · Sep 13, 2004, 11:08 PM

Originally posted by Horsepoo!!!:
Zimphire doesn't know what he is. I think he's just a whatever-apologist.

chessplayer · Sep 14, 2004, 02:49 AM

Originally posted by macintologist:
is because all my chat logs are in Fire and I don't wanna loose them or be inconvenienced.

You mean you don't want to lose them, not that you "don't wanna loose them."

Sorry to nitpick, but I can't stand the lose/loose mistake. These days, I see people write "loose" when they mean "lose" more often than I see it spelled correctly!

Back on subject, I use iChat and Adium, and love both of them.

Zimphire · Sep 14, 2004, 02:50 AM

I love iChat, but I NEED multi-protocol support. And since I have Adium running anyhow, I see no reason to run iChat just for AIM.

I hear the iChat in Tiger will let one connect to other networks using Jabber?

Gavin · 05:03 AM

Double post

Gavin · Sep 14, 2004, 05:01 AM

Originally posted by chessplayer:
You mean you don't want to lose them, not that you "don't wanna loose them."

Sorry to nitpick, but I can't stand the lose/loose mistake. These days, I see people write "loose" when they mean "lose" more often than I see it spelled correctly!

You are too late.

It's now officially spelled both ways. Official English is now on a 15 month replacement cycle and is driven by thirteen year olds. The same people who brought you 'butt naked' instead of 'buck naked', 'hone in' for 'home in' and 'could care less' instead of 'couldn't care less'.

Gotta roll with the times because who cares about logic and history, right?

To keep this on topic the IM code for everything I just wrote is WGAFF69

po

Since EBCDIC · Sep 14, 2004, 05:53 AM

I use Skype (free) for my Mac<->Win chats, Mac<->landline (really cheaply), and because it's getting so convenient, Mac<->Mac chats. It's still beta, and nowhere as polished as iChatAV is, but we can always hope.

I use SiteSpeed (not free) for AV with co-workers. Not as good video quality as:

I use iChatAV (free) for AV with everyone else, and for audio chats when Skype isn't the right thing.

albook · Sep 14, 2004, 07:16 AM

The one and only....

macintologist · Sep 14, 2004, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by Zimphire:
I love iChat, but I NEED multi-protocol support. And since I have Adium running anyhow, I see no reason to run iChat just for AIM.

I hear the iChat in Tiger will let one connect to other networks using Jabber?

Your Very Own iChat and Blog Servers

You can now host your own iChat server. Instant Messaging serves as a vital means of communication for organizations of all sizes, so it�s useful to deploy and run your own private and secure IM server. Based on the open source Jabber project, the new iChat server in Tiger Server lets your company protect its internal communications by defining its own namespace, and use SSL/TLS encryption to ensure privacy. The iChat server works with both the iChat client in Mac OS X Tiger and popular open source clients available for Windows, Linux and even PDAs.

Not quite, but still interesting!

Wouldn't you love to be one of those persons who had to connect to a private ichat server for extra security? I'd feel so important and elite

King Bob On The Cob · Sep 14, 2004, 10:56 PM

Well I found this page through SVN

http://www.adiumx.com/beta.html

0.7 beta fools!

(It's not official released yet so I'm gonna get yelled at, but, eh, what are you going to do?)

Tick · Sep 15, 2004, 12:16 AM

Just don't post to versiontracker and macupdate for now, or any other tracker sites

Earth Mk. II · Sep 15, 2004, 12:28 AM

I use Adium.. but I'm biased.

Gavin · Sep 15, 2004, 01:43 AM

Just for the record, what does adium have that iChat doesn't?

I don't really use im that much, but for what I do iChat seems fine. What else could it do?

The only thing I can think of would be multiple account opens at once, one each for personal, business, and friends only, etc. And a way to organize the buddy list better - categories, top 5 that sot of thing.

Earth Mk. II · Sep 15, 2004, 01:47 AM

Originally posted by Gavin:
Just for the record, what does adium have that iChat doesn't?

I don't really use im that much, but for what I do iChat seems fine. What else could it do?

The only thing I can think of would be multiple account opens at once, one each for personal, business, and friends only, etc. And a way to organize the buddy list better - categories, top 5 that sot of thing.

That, and multiple protocol support are probably the main reasons people use it over iChat - especially when a/v conferencing isn't a big concern.

juanvaldes · Sep 15, 2004, 02:27 AM

customizability. Nifty stuff like "set idle" for avoiding people, all sorts of stuff.

Like most apps (especially Open/Free ones) its' simply too easy to download it and give it a spin them to ask others what/how/why they love app X/Y/Z.

macintologist · Sep 15, 2004, 07:01 AM

Are all of them based on the same AIM open sourcelibraries? gaim lib or something? And what about the MSN library?

Does iChat use some special AOL-licensed system, and that's why file transfer works so well with it?

I think it would be cool if Apple opened up iChat and created an iChat framework so we could get the same quality AIM connectivity in the other IM apps.

I have never had a single successful file transfer with Aim or MSN over Fire, Adium and Proteus. Never.

Zimphire · Sep 15, 2004, 10:40 AM

Originally posted by King Bob On The Cob:
Well I found this page through SVN

http://www.adiumx.com/beta.html

0.7 beta fools!

(It's not official released yet so I'm gonna get yelled at, but, eh, what are you going to do?)

Gah I can't make it look like how I have .63 set up. I'll guess I will wait till they polish it a bit.

Sarc · Sep 15, 2004, 01:58 PM

Originally posted by Earth Mk. II:
I use Adium.. but I'm biased.

what's that view's name ?
and how did you hide the MSN name ?

Millennium · Sep 15, 2004, 02:36 PM

Originally posted by macintologist:
Are all of them based on the same AIM open sourcelibraries? gaim lib or something? And what about the MSN library?

libgaim is a common way to connect, but I don't think they all use it. There are some others.

Does iChat use some special AOL-licensed system, and that's why file transfer works so well with it?

That's right. iChat is actually licensed by AOL to connect to the AIM network, and as part of that agreement they got some help when they wrote their iChat framework.

I think it would be cool if Apple opened up iChat and created an iChat framework so we could get the same quality AIM connectivity in the other IM apps.

Even if Apple wanted to, AOL would never let them do it.

Earth Mk. II · Sep 15, 2004, 03:24 PM

Originally posted by Sarc:
what's that view's name ?
and how did you hide the MSN name ?

It's a group bubbles window layout, I titled it "Slick!" but I'm not very imaginative with names, and I'm not on MSN in that screen shot.

I can post the layout and color files if you want though.