[furtheraway]

personally, i really like ichat and i hope apple continues to improve upon it. i usually prefer more spartan application layouts, but there's something about that bubble chat that's got me hooked. god, it felt dirty to type that.

i do agree that it could use message logs in text format and more options, but i'm an option whore.. and our remixes prove it.

[mitchell_pgh]

Did Apple start over with iChat? I'm wondering why it is lacking in so many areas? I know Apple will update it... I wonder how many people they had working on iChat. It couldn't be more then five or so... for a week or two...

[KeyLimePi]

I think you guys miss the point of iChat.

Like all of Apple's iApps iChat is designed for the novice user. Apple -- the company that thinks even one button on a mouse is too many -- prides itself on simplification. For the elite 10% it can be a little frustrating but it is certainly a better alternative than the bloatware that some companies offer (M$).

For uber-mac users like yourselves, who want a chat program with more features and options, well, there are chat programs out there with more feature and options. As has been said before, when chatting catches on and most of the 'great unwashed' Mac users have been initiated, iChat will mature.

[SpiffyGuyC]

Originally posted by KeyLimePi:
I think you guys miss the point of iChat.

Like all of Apple's iApps iChat is designed for the novice user. Apple -- the company that thinks even one button on a mouse is too many -- prides itself on simplification. For the elite 10% it can be a little frustrating but it is certainly a better alternative than the bloatware that some companies offer (M$).

For uber-mac users like yourselves, who want a chat program with more features and options, well, there are chat programs out there with more feature and options. As has been said before, when chatting catches on and most of the 'great unwashed' Mac users have been initiated, iChat will mature.

What idiot can't, and doesn't, use the standard IM apps these days? If anything, iChat is MORE confusing - it even has trouble telling the difference between Idle and Away. If you have an away message up, but are away long enough to go Idle, it doesn't display your away message and just shows you as idle. Likewise, if I am away long enough to go Idle, others will not receive my away message.

Confusing crap like that is what goes on 24/7 in iChat. I don't know if you've used it yet, but this app needs some serious fixing.

S

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by Fallout:
I don't like iChat, because it isn't compatible with MSN Messenger or anything besides AIM and .Mac, both of which I never use. So for me it's useless.

I don't like MSN Messenger, because it isn't compatible with AIM or anything beside MSN and .Net, both of which I never use. So for me it's useless.

[SpiffyGuyC]

Heh, well I just came back to my computer and found that iChat's disconnected itself yet again, lol...

Wait, wait...I just thought of another good one. What about when someone sends you an IM, but you're away, so they send the message and close the window. You come back to your computer - see the window/message, and type a reply because the sender is still online. Right? Not with iChat! The sender has closed his/her window, thereby ending the chat "session," so if you want to reply you have to close the original message window and double-click on the sender's name to send your reply. Anything less (such as typing a reply in the original message window), results in a message of noncompliance from iChat.

Of course, just like so many other features, maybe iChat shouldn't even have away messages, because I can't seem to keep my connection long enough to have dinner anyway.

Yeah, using iChat is about as easy and pleasant as eating my own neck...

S

[frawgz]

Originally posted by SpiffyGuyC:
Well, I've checked out iChat and found only a few annoying things that will keep me from using it full-time:

1. iChat icon - instead of bouncing, it would be nice if it would just update in the dock with the # of waiting IMs you have. For once AOL's starting to get this right and Apple is the one with the annoying bouncing icon.

2. Buddy Icons - poorly implemented. I don't mind the thumbnail in the buddy list, or even in "bubble chat" view, but if I'm not in the bubble chat I want the icon in a little box with full animation - so many people have animated icons now, it seems silly not to include support. I think Apple's philosophy of how to use buddy icons is at odds with AOL's. Apple wants you to take pictures of everyone you know and make it their icon, have it show up in your address book and email too... seems awfully complicated for something that is just supposed to be a fun little feature.

Anyways, I feel like I'm missing out without animation support somewhere.

3. There should be a way to organize your buddy list according to categories, like in all other IM clients. In iChat, it's either by Status or Alphabetical...but sometimes there are certain groups on my buddylist ("Family," for instance) that I'm just not interested in being aware of....being forced to view every online buddy in your list clutters up the whole thing...and while I used to think the idea of "groups" is stupid, it's a really good way to organize your buddies to focus on who you're currently interested in finding or communicating with.

4. I want the option of displaying my screen name rather than my real name at the top of my buddylist and in chats. Once you put in your real name there's no option to change it anywhere.

5. No profile? Gimme a break.

6. My connection apparently randomly drops, although iChat gives me no indication of this...confirmed with a few friends I chatted with. This was enough to make me switch back to AIM.


Call it nitpicking, but for me these are the features Apple needs to work on before I can use iChat without feeling like it's got me in some kind of death grip.

-S

I haven't used iChat myself, but the issues you've listed above all sound very reasonable to me, and I'm very disappointed in Apple's oversight in not resolving/implementing them.

[SpiffyGuyC]

Originally posted by frawgz:


I haven't used iChat myself, but the issues you've listed above all sound very reasonable to me, and I'm very disappointed in Apple's oversight in not resolving/implementing them.

One thing I was mistaken on - apparently the iChat dock icon DOES show the number of messages you have waiting for you (well, the number of CHATS at least - not the number of IM's). However, it seems to have on-off functionality for me, as well as one other user that's posted on these boards.

I think what disappoints me most about iChat isn't even my opinion that it's feature incomplete, but that what is there isn't consistent and/or stable. Contrary to Apple's other iApps, even at a 1.0 version, everything in iChat seems to be counterintuitive - nothing works in the simplest way, or in the way we've been taught to use it - or in some cases things just don't work at all (not consistently, at least). The whole thing feels like the developers spent a lot of time on form, to which function was secondary. It's not of the caliber I've come to expect from Apple, that's for sure.

The whole situation wouldn't be as frustrating if the real AIM client worked flawlessly under 10.2, but alas it does not.

S