iChat AV 2.1 Update

[MacRumors]

Apple has released iChat 2.1 (final) today in your Software Update. According to the description:

iChat AV v2.1 adds support for video conferencing with the new AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows.

Apple had previously released iChat AV 2.1 in Beta form (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/02/20040205142206.shtml).

[DamnDJ]

Hurray! :D

[ImAlwaysRight]

Let's make this more than 1 v 1 communication and then we will be talkin'.

[Trowaman]

who hoo installing now!

[SoGood]

Been waiting for this for ages. Finally, reliable cross-platform AV conferencing capability for the Mac and PC masses is here!

Good job Apple!

[Thirteenva]

I don't see any changes for those not using video chat.

[ethernet76]

Ok, the AV ability is great, but where is my button that let's me edit my profile like AIM does?

[xtbfx]

I don't see any changes for those not using video chat.

Thank you Captain Obvious :D

They just changed the video to make it compatible.

[Stella]

I tried using my iSight on AOL - but it thought I didn't have a camera... I tried another camera (Logitech) and AIM refused to detect that either...

iSight, however, worked fine using MSNChat.

[SpaceMagic]

Obviously signalling G5 updates any time soon :p

[MasterMac]

I'm glad it warns people to quit iChat before updating.

However I don't know why this requires a restart... :confused:

[1macker1]

That's what i'm waiting for. Also, it's useless if the people using AOL IM dont upgrade to the latest version. And AOL dont send out any information when they release new versions of IM. I use to be versions behind and not know it.:(
Let's make this more than 1 v 1 communication and then we will be talkin'.

[MacsRgr8]

Was no-one intersted? :(

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=65233

(20 mins earlier ;) )

[dstorey]

I'm glad it warns people to quit iChat before updating.

However I don't know why this requires a restart... :confused:

because it uses the instantMessage framework built into the os i guess

[jorel]

This is great, but unfortunately most PC users I know use Trillian instead of the vanilla AOL chat client because of how un-user-friendly it is. But it's another step in the right direction for Apple!

[Thirteenva]

Thank you Captain Obvious :D

They just changed the video to make it compatible.

I guess now we've both wasted a post...

[alset]

edit - well, now i feel silly

[dontmatter]

because if so, yay! now I won't have all my windoze friends being immensely confused by ichat, and they'll see my "availible" messages. I can't quite say I have any use for video, though.

Or does this just work with another video format made for windows? That woudl be sad. Or not, b/c if we give windows all the mac software, there'll be that much less to make our computers better. Just the OS, I guess.

[Stella]

iChat remains Mac only, but it offers Video support with the Windows version of AIM 5.5

because if so, yay! now I won't have all my windoze friends being immensely confused by ichat, and they'll see my "availible" messages. I can't quite say I have any use for video, though.

Or does this just work with another video format made for windows? That woudl be sad. Or not, b/c if we give windows all the mac software, there'll be that much less to make our computers better. Just the OS, I guess.

[Stella]

Unfortunately you still can't start a chat (audio) only session with AIM 5.5 or vice versa.

Shame apple can't implement this.... if they can do video + audio, why not audio only?

[LEgregius]

It seems to now link your OS X user icon with the buddy icon. hmm.

[ipacmm]

cool - ipacmm.com

[ionas]

At Least its Update Day Today...

while i had hoped for PM G5 releases we wont see them until 30th or even 18th or 20th april...

well i still have to send in my student id and 99USB for a discount on hw anyway... gotta do that soon now!

[Kagetenshi]

most PC users I know use Trillian instead of the vanilla AOL chat client because of how un-user-friendly it is.

Trillian? Barely a step up. Bloody thing doesn't even have Unicode support, not to mention proper handling of // commands in chatrooms...

~J

[snahabed]

The bug regarding external firewire hard drives has not yet been fixed. There is definitely still a conflict. :(

[jesuscandle]

Trillian? Barely a step up. Bloody thing doesn't even have Unicode support, not to mention proper handling of // commands in chatrooms...

~J

I use windows aim at work. Can you suggest something better?

[baddog]

iChat 2.1beta had the annoying tendency to halt your connection on purpose for 10 seconds if you typed too many messages in too short a time (which really wasn't very many message or very much time :mad: ). Because of that, I had to revert to iChat 2.0, which works fine. Before I even try to upgrade, can anyone tell me if this has been fixed in the final version of 2.1?

[Kagetenshi]

I use windows aim at work. Can you suggest something better?

I hear DeadAIM is decent. I don't really know much about the choices other than Windows AIM and Trillian, as most of the people I know use one of the two and so I haven't really had reason to learn about anything else.

~J

[capacity]

I use windows aim at work. Can you suggest something better?
gaim. http://gaim.sourceforge.net/win32/index.php

[oingoboingo]

It seems to now link your OS X user icon with the buddy icon. hmm.

Do you mean that your iChat icon can now be the same as your Mac OS X user icon? And that other people's iChat icons appear as their Mac OS X user icons on your instance of iChat? iChat AV already did that in version 1.0. Or are you talking about something different?

[mainstreetmark]

I'd like to see some sort of Whiteboarding or desktop streaming mode, so I can show people the code problem I'm having. It's all well and good when you're gettin' your hey-how-ya-doin's on with the ladies, but when I have to get real work done, i'm not very interested in looking at the person I'm talking to.

[jesuscandle]

gaim. http://gaim.sourceforge.net/win32/index.php

Hm...I had tried Gaim before and it kept crashing whenever I moused-over a hyperlink...

Still does...

Presumably they'll fix this eventually. Aside from that rather significant bug, I think it's a great piece of software...usability-wise anyway.

It's a shame the bug report mechanism involved DL'ing a "debug" version of the software and then reading the stack dump it generates. I'd love to help out...

[PlaceofDis]

updated...no noticable difference, yet....
now lets get some hardware updates comming....

[ZildjianKX]

I hear DeadAIM is decent. I don't really know much about the choices other than Windows AIM and Trillian, as most of the people I know use one of the two and so I haven't really had reason to learn about anything else.

~J

Deadaim is an aim enhancer... costs $$$ too.

I want to hear from someone who had problems connecting to windows users before... and to see if it got any better... I won't get to try it until I get home from work in 2 hrs :(

[Tequila Grandma]

Still no audio-only support? Bah! That's poo.

[RTouris]

I presume this makes the 30th the definite day for the release of the new hardware then. How about those G6 Powerbooks? For crying out loud, I sold my dual G4 in anticipation of some new hardware of any form and type (that runs OSX), please please I can't stand using windows any more, it's like crippled and all :(

[jyellis]

Deadaim is an aim enhancer... costs $$$ too.

DeadAIM does cost money, but only $5 I believe. Well worth the money if you use AIM very much. It allows to remove either or both rows of buttons, allows for transparency of windows, tabbed messaging, and best-of-all gets rid of those stupid ads that make noise, I mean really AOL.

[LimeiBook86]

Works fine for me! :) I would be happy when audio support comes. Keep up the good work Apple! ;)

[mac15]

It seems to now link your OS X user icon with the buddy icon. hmm.

Its always done this

[neesley]

Let's make this more than 1 v 1 communication and then we will be talkin'.

I was under the impression that you could group chat with iChat. I haven't tried this, however, with a audio or video chat.

[robbents99]

Has anyone else noticed that some of their windows friends camera/microphone icons have disappeared after the update?

[AtariMac]

Has anyone else noticed that some of their windows friends camera/microphone icons have disappeared after the update?

Yep, gone for me too. Nice while it lasted I guess.

Pete

[AngryLawnGnome]

[iChat Sucks]

Unfortunately you still can't start a chat (audio) only session with AIM 5.5 or vice versa.

Shame apple can't implement this.... if they can do video + audio, why not audio only?
Yes it does. iChat is good with some things, like the menu item, but the lack of cross platform audio chat and the crappy profile viewing/missing personal profile really brings it down. Also, its need to be primarily based on your mac account sucks - not very many people have one.

[simX]

Yes it does. iChat is good with some things, like the menu item, but the lack of cross platform audio chat and the crappy profile viewing/missing personal profile really brings it down. Also, its need to be primarily based on your mac account sucks - not very many people have one.

I agree that it would be nice to have cross platform audio chat. However, iChat does not need to based on any .mac account (which is what I assume you meant) -- any regular AIM account will do and iChat will use it happily.

[ZildjianKX]

DeadAIM does cost money, but only $5 I believe. Well worth the money if you use AIM very much. It allows to remove either or both rows of buttons, allows for transparency of windows, tabbed messaging, and best-of-all gets rid of those stupid ads that make noise, I mean really AOL.

Just block the address the ads come from w/ a firewall :)

[killmoms]

Trillian? Barely a step up. Bloody thing doesn't even have Unicode support, not to mention proper handling of // commands in chatrooms...

~J
News to me. My Trillian handles Unicode perfectly. Oh, but it's Trillian Pro 2.012, so I guess the fact that you have to pay for it puts it out of the picture for you?

--Cless

[rwclark]

Unfortunately you still can't start a chat (audio) only session with AIM 5.5 or vice versa.

Shame apple can't implement this.... if they can do video + audio, why not audio only?

I wholeheartedly agree. I would love to be able to do an audio chat with my girlfriend, a Windows user. It would save a lot of money in long-distance phone bills. ;)

[ALoLA]

Audio chat already works.....sort of. I was sending audio and video to my PC friend, and he was just sending audio. We could chat in real time, but I wasn't getting any video from him (he only had a mic setup).

[rwclark]

People interested in seeing support for cross-platform audio chat in a future version of iChat should send feedback here:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html

[singletrack]

I'd like to see some sort of Whiteboarding or desktop streaming mode, so I can show people the code problem I'm having. It's all well and good when you're gettin' your hey-how-ya-doin's on with the ladies, but when I have to get real work done, i'm not very interested in looking at the person I'm talking to.

Kind of.

Apple-Shift-4 to create a snapshot of whatever you're interested in which creates a PDF on the desktop called 'Picture 1'

Drop 'Picture 1' on your iChat chat window and the user gets sent a PDF. Relatively painless.

If you're on the same local net, SubEthaEdit has a nice rendezvous based editing mode.

[robbents99]

Ok, all my Mac Buddies went from Camera Icons to Telephone Icons only. Anyone know what the requirement specs are now? Did they change them for the update or were the beta requirement specs lower?

[chicagoboy]

I have a G5 with isight and ichat av 2.1 final (newest download) and friend has Windows XP and AIM 5.5.something (latest version) but no camera. She can hear me but can't receive video. Anythoughts on why she can't receive picture?

[blueflame]

im sick of this wait 10 seconds crap! it makes ichat almost un-usable. is there anyway to stop it? im ont typing to fast that is for sure, i peck type. why does it do that?
Andreas

[spav]

im sick of this wait 10 seconds crap! it makes ichat almost un-usable. is there anyway to stop it? im ont typing to fast that is for sure, i peck type. why does it do that?
Andreas

I had this same problem with the beta...ended up reverting to 2.0. Guess this means I'm sticking with it for now.

[SoGood]

I have a G5 with isight and ichat av 2.1 final (newest download) and friend has Windows XP and AIM 5.5.something (latest version) but no camera. She can hear me but can't receive video. Anythoughts on why she can't receive picture?

Video won't work unless you have decent line speed. Anyone on modem will just have to stay on audio. Not sure if that's how it should be or what. But that's my experience.

[Stella]

How?
AIM reports that my iChat account doesn't support this feature - "Connect to Talk", and Audio Chat is greyed out in iChat.

You can use any AIM account with iChat...

Yes it does. iChat is good with some things, like the menu item, but the lack of cross platform audio chat and the crappy profile viewing/missing personal profile really brings it down. Also, its need to be primarily based on your mac account sucks - not very many people have one.

[chicagoboy]

Video won't work unless you have decent line speed. Anyone on modem will just have to stay on audio. Not sure if that's how it should be or what. But that's my experience.


We both have broadband cable with lots of bandwidth. I just don't know why it doesn't work.

[colocolo]

Video won't work unless you have decent line speed. Anyone on modem will just have to stay on audio. Not sure if that's how it should be or what. But that's my experience.

While that statement holds true, it is not the reason in this case. AIM 5.5 requires to have a camera plugged in, it does not support one way video chat. Thus, if it doesn't send data in, say, 5 secs, it will cut the video feed. I had this same problem and found this limitation in AIM 5.5 documents.

[mgargan1]

it's a shame they still haven't made it possible to put a profile up.

[ZildjianKX]

A+... fixed all my windows-mac video problems.

2.1 also picks up the aim formatting of my buddy's text, which I don't remember 2.1 beta doing... maybe I'm tired and I forgot though.

The rate limit sucks, especially considering there is no meter telling you how much you typed... but its not as bad as the rate limit in 2.1 beta I don't think.

And the removing of the video button next to their name is kinda nice, cleans up the buddy list window, and it also prevents you from accidently clicking on it. At least you can right click on their name and if video chat is greyed out, you know if they can chat w/ you or not.

Edit- All the bugs aren't out quite yet... my windows friend I just IMed couldn't get a chat invite from me... and iChat just crashes, lol.

[jtmacb]

I have been trying to communicate with my friends who are using PCs and IM. We see each other within iChatAV (me) and IM (them) as far as being online. But when either of us tries to initiate a video chat we get the message the the other person did not respond - even though we did.

Now I have not yet tried the final release - all of my testing has been with the beta version. Has anyone else had this kind of problem and has the final version of iChatAV solved such problems?

jtmacb

[morkintosh]

It seems to now link your OS X user icon with the buddy icon. hmm.

so it always did this ...

[MacBoyX]

I had this same problem with the beta...ended up reverting to 2.0. Guess this means I'm sticking with it for now.

I am sooo pissed!

1. I get this 10 second thing all the time! At anyone given time I chat with 6 -10 people and I can't use it! UGH!

2. I have still never gotten the Video chat to work with an AIM person. IT doesnt even connect, i have all the freaking ports open and all. It sucks!

Anyone know how to revert? go back? reinstall 2.0? I can't even use iChat now...

macboyX

[Oirectine]

This still hasn't fixed the problem I have--I can't video chat with anyone when my computer is at the dorm. I'm guessing it is some sort of firewall issue, but I always get the error message in connection doctor:

2004-03-23 23:19:28 -0500: My Girlfriend did not respond.
Tried to send UDP SIP "invite" to the following IP addresses and ports:
123.456.789.123:4762

I end up using Yahoo! Messenger, which literally crashes every 10 minutes, but at least it works. I always send the error report to Apple when it crashes. I hope they get the message.

On a semi-related note, I hate my network. I can't do anything with it. My current girlfriend and my ex girlfriend both get REAL IP addresses at their school. I don't. I get some 192.168 crap. No mail server, no web server, no nmap, no iChat!!

[Groves]

Anyone have a good workaround to let me see my buddies using Trillian while I'm logged in using my .mac account? If I use an AIM account I can see them, but not if I'm using my .mac account.

Any ideas?

I'm having good sucess with 2.1 so far.

[supercres]

Has anyone else noticed that some of their windows friends camera/microphone icons have disappeared after the update?

Yeah. Now it seems that PC friends need a webcam to do anything. No more one way video, two-way audio.

Very silly.

[ZildjianKX]

I can't video chat w/ anyone not on my LAN... is there any firewall rules that need to be set? I the ones for iChat on my end from the apple support site, but I don't know about AIM...

[agentmouthwash]

i can't use iChat until it has TABS.
So i'm stuck with Adium.

PLEASE APPLE, GIVE ME TABS!
I HATE HAVING SO MANY WINDOWS OPENNED AT THE SAME TIME!

[LimeiBook86]

I keep hearing popping noises! :( Sometimes it happens for no reason, mostly when I'm idle. I have a NetGear 802.11b Wireless Router and a PowerBook 12'' G4 867mhz AirPort Extreme, 640mb RAM, DVD-R, Mac OS X 10.3.3 :o Anyone else have the same problem?? :(

[vpalvarez]

Unfortunately you still can't start a chat (audio) only session with AIM 5.5 or vice versa.

Shame apple can't implement this.... if they can do video + audio, why not audio only?

They probably can and it escapes me why they wouldn't. There are plenty of Windows VoIP software that work fine. (Skype!)

[alamar]

Trillian? Barely a step up. Bloody thing doesn't even have Unicode support, not to mention proper handling of // commands in chatrooms...

~J

yeah, but its possibly the most popular pc solution despite the fact that it leaves a lot to be desired. Of course, if you read version tracker at all, every piece of software on earth leaves a lot to be desired evidently.....no one can please everyone. ;)

[JFreak]

i get excited when they add microsoft messenger compatibility, because that's what people outside usa are using. (in finland it's roughly 66.7% msn messenger and 33.3% icq, and most icq people also have msn account. no aim here.)

even text-only with msn would make ichat shine.

[TBR]

i get excited when they add microsoft messenger compatibility, because that's what people outside usa are using. (in finland it's roughly 66.7% msn messenger and 33.3% icq, and most icq people also have msn account. no aim here.)

even text-only with msn would make ichat shine.

I agree completly, I don't know anyone who doesn't use MSN.

[johnnyjibbs]

So is there actually anything different in this version, compared with 2.1 beta? Not being able to do audio-only sucks. Not all of us have broadband connections or can afford an iSight (or two).

[TorbX]

This does nothing for me. I'm Norwegian, and we don't use AOL's chat-program here. Of course.

All of my friends is using PC MSN for video and Skype (www.skype.com) for audio. I have tried to convert them over to AIM to be able to communicate with them with my iChat and iSight. Once they tried the program, the uninstalled it because

IT IS SO INCREDIBLY UGLY!

It just OOOZES spyware of that program. A 5 year old could do the GUI better. The buttons are "thrown on", and it seems as if they didn't even TRY to make it look a LITTLE good.

What is the matter with those programmers at AOL? Cant't they see that GUI is an appealing matter, and that is has to look a LITTLE good these days?

[TorbX]

i get excited when they add microsoft messenger compatibility, because that's what people outside usa are using. (in finland it's roughly 66.7% msn messenger and 33.3% icq, and most icq people also have msn account. no aim here.)

even text-only with msn would make ichat shine.

Agreed completely. That is the situation here in Norway as well.

[MacBoyX]

I agree completly, I don't know anyone who doesn't use MSN.

I don't use it and don't hold you breath. Microsoft takes great strides to keep 3rd parties out of their network. Remember when AIM tried to get them to open up their service and allow them to work together?

It's going to be a loooooong time before you see this happen.

macboyX

[hayesk]

I don't use it and don't hold you breath. Microsoft takes great strides to keep 3rd parties out of their network. Remember when AIM tried to get them to open up their service and allow them to work together?

It's going to be a loooooong time before you see this happen.


Yep, they now want to charge license fees for third party clients. If Apple supported MSN, we'd have to pay for iChat. I'm not sure I want to pay for something where the bulk of the money goes to MS.

[~Shard~]

Nice to see an update, but I'm not really going to use iChat until more friends get iSights, until I get an iSight, and until the iSight comes down just a little in price. I know it's a good chat program on its own, but I just don't see myself using it unless I can exploit it's video chat capabilities.

[redAPPLE]

They probably can and it escapes me why they wouldn't. There are plenty of Windows VoIP software that work fine. (Skype!)

they would need it for iChat 3. you cannot have all the goodies in a .1 update.

besides, that is what SJ would say. "...before, you have to pay a lot of money to contact your grandparents. and you can't even see them. now, for just 49,99 $, you can see them, hear them, anytime you want (until iChat 4 that is)." :rolleyes:

[JFreak]

If Apple supported MSN, we'd have to pay for iChat.

we already pay for ichat! it costs for jaguar users and is bundled with panther. the same thing with iphoto/imovie/garageband - the newest versions cost for old panther users and only come bundled free with new computers and presumably future operating system versions.

(on the other hand, everything you said about paying microsoft is true - i wouldn't like it happen; however, i'd like to see ichat shine and msn connectivity is a must even if it costs a little.)

[ktrout]

I have been trying to communicate with my friends who are using PCs and IM. We see each other within iChatAV (me) and IM (them) as far as being online. But when either of us tries to initiate a video chat we get the message the the other person did not respond - even though we did.

Now I have not yet tried the final release - all of my testing has been with the beta version. Has anyone else had this kind of problem and has the final version of iChatAV solved such problems?

jtmacb

I have had the same problem, and it seems to depend on the stability of the other person's internet connection. After a few tries it generally works, even when she is in East Nowhere on a cable modem shared between a lot of peeople. Picture quality is much lower under those circumstances, of course.

My chat buddy's machine crashes an awful lot too (2 y/o Dell Inspiron + XP Home), so I can't be sure that the general crapitude of her kit is not also a contributing factor.

[numediaman]

we already pay for ichat! it costs for jaguar users and is bundled with panther. the same thing with iphoto/imovie/garageband - the newest versions cost for old panther users and only come bundled free with new computers and presumably future operating system versions.

(on the other hand, everything you said about paying microsoft is true - i wouldn't like it happen; however, i'd like to see ichat shine and msn connectivity is a must even if it costs a little.)

Same old argument -- Apple should give away its products. Get over it. For $150 you can get Panther, new iChat, new iPhoto, new iMovie, new iDVD and GarageBand. You think it didn't cost Apple any money to develop or acquire these programs?

I have to upgrade to Adobe CS for $750. $150 seems like a bargain to me.

[ktrout]

Let's make this more than 1 v 1 communication and then we will be talkin'.

Have there been rumors regarding group video/audio chat in future versions?

If not, perhaps this will start one.

[JFreak]

i'm not whining, thank you very much. i also pay for my software and have no pirated material in my laptop. but i cannot think ichat is free software because it isn't, and i would in fact be willing to pay some to get that msn compatibility into ichat. really. i would pay rather than use microsoft's own free product.

[skvngrx]

This is great (and I've been using the beta for a little while), but can you be signed on to both an AIM account and a .mac account at the same time?

Otherwise having the AOL video availability is pretty useless since I need to be on .mac for my isight enabled buddies.

[frankly]

This is great (and I've been using the beta for a little while), but can you be signed on to both an AIM account and a .mac account at the same time?

Otherwise having the AOL video availability is pretty useless since I need to be on .mac for my isight enabled buddies.

You can only be signed onto one account at a time. But why do you need to be signed on with your .mac name for your isight buddies to see you??? Just add them to your AIM buddy list.

Later, Frank

[frankly]

Same old argument -- Apple should give away its products. Get over it. For $150 you can get Panther, new iChat, new iPhoto, new iMovie, new iDVD and GarageBand. You think it didn't cost Apple any money to develop or acquire these programs?

I have to upgrade to Adobe CS for $750. $150 seems like a bargain to me.

He never said that it should be free. He was simply pointing out that it wasn't free because the person that he was responding to was saying, "but if they add feature x they will have to charge for iChat" as if they didn't already charge for it.

Pay attention before you slam someone.

Later, Frank

[frankly]

Anyone have a good workaround to let me see my buddies using Trillian while I'm logged in using my .mac account? If I use an AIM account I can see them, but not if I'm using my .mac account.

Any ideas?

I'm having good sucess with 2.1 so far.

I have this same problem with some of my AIM friends when I am signed on with my .mac account. It is not the fault of the .mac account, it is your friends settings in AIM/Trillian. They have their privacy settings set wrong so that people outside of AIM can't see them. I told one of my friends to adjust his settings and now I can see him no problem.

Later, Frank

[numediaman]

He never said that it should be free. He was simply pointing out that it wasn't free because the person that he was responding to was saying, "but if they add feature x they will have to charge for iChat" as if they didn't already charge for it.

Pay attention before you slam someone.

Later, Frank

Nice slam job yourself Frank. Sorry I defended Apple on a Mac board.

[skvngrx]

You can only be signed onto one account at a time. But why do you need to be signed on with your .mac name for your isight buddies to see you??? Just add them to your AIM buddy list.

Later, Frank

because I have a bunch of buddies with .Mac accounts with iSights, and also PC users with AOL only and other cams... Right now I'm restricting myself to only video chatting with the .mac people.

[skvngrx]

because I have a bunch of buddies with .Mac accounts with iSights, and also PC users with AOL only and other cams... Right now I'm restricting myself to only video chatting with the .mac people.

or are you saying you can send a message from a AIM account to a .mac account using ichat? I always thought you had to be logged in to AIM to send and receive AIM messages, and logged in to .mac to send and receive .mac...?

while we're at it - groups in the buddylist? Oh and somebody else mentioned tabs - I do like that idea. or even a way to dock a text chat with someone into the video chat with the same person.

[skvngrx]

or are you saying you can send a message from a AIM account to a .mac account using ichat? I always thought you had to be logged in to AIM to send and receive AIM messages, and logged in to .mac to send and receive .mac...?

while we're at it - groups in the buddylist? Oh and somebody else mentioned tabs - I do like that idea. or even a way to dock a text chat with someone into the video chat with the same person.

OK, I'm an idiot. I think I never realized that the .mac accounts are actually AIM accounts. or at least that there is a gateway or something.

does anybody know how that really works? (does apple just register xxx@mac.com with AIM as an AIM user? does AOL have a concession to apple that "anything@mac.com" is taken, and route all the requests through an apple server?

[JFreak]

Sorry I defended Apple on a Mac board.

you can do that :) i just said i'd want ichat to be better app it currently is, and apple is more than capable of doing that if they had the will.

[Kagetenshi]

Since @ isn't usually a legal character for AIM SNs, they don't have to make any concessions. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but they are interoperable.

(Does anyone else feel like the word "interoperable" is missing an "ate"?)

~J

[bar italia]

Nice slam job yourself Frank. Sorry I defended Apple on a Mac board.

Uh oh. Looks like someone can dish it out, but can't take it. :rolleyes:

[frankly]

Nice slam job yourself Frank. Sorry I defended Apple on a Mac board.

Are you serious with this response???

Perhaps you should take a moment to actually read things before you respond to them. You definitely have a problem because now you have responded incorrectly to two posts. Let's get two things straight here:

1) I didn't slam you.
2) You weren't defending Apple.

The person you were responding to was obviously an Apple fan. He was simply pointing out a mistake in a previous post. You then chose to misinterpret what he said and blast him for something he NEVER SAID. And while you were blasting him for something he NEVER SAID, you then proceeded to tell him to "get over it."

Now, just for the record, I am slamming you now. READ BEFORE YOU RESPOND!!!!

Later, Frank

[aethier]

are we able to login with our msn username, because i don't want to have to add manuelly my over 90 contacts from msn,

aethier

[LEgregius]

are we able to login with our msn username, because i don't want to have to add manuelly my over 90 contacts from msn,

aethier

No, It doesn't use the MSN service. It uses AIM (AOL), so you can't talk to MSN contacts using it.

[aethier]

No, It doesn't use the MSN service. It uses AIM (AOL), so you can't talk to MSN contacts using it.

umm.. thats the big thing with this update, that it is msn compatible..


aethier


EDIT: OOPS, i read AOL Messenger 5.5, and must have got exccited, and disregarded the AOL part, and assumed it was MSN, sorry, who cares about AOL...

[jtmacb]

so it always did this ...

Yes, it always has done this. No matter who initiates the video chat the other person gets the invitation, responds to it, and the the person initiating the chat gets a message saying that the other person has not or did not respond - or there is an error message saying that a connection could not be made. This is in spite of the PC person using 5.5 of IM and me using the latest iChat AV beta. I have not tried this with the final updated version.

[killmoms]

EDIT: OOPS, i read AOL Messenger 5.5, and must have got exccited, and disregarded the AOL part, and assumed it was MSN, sorry, who cares about AOL...
All the people I know. I know, literally, three people who use MSN Messenger, and they all have AIM screennames. It does seem to be the norm, at least in the US. Don't know if you're from somewhere else.

--Cless

[JFreak]

It does seem to be the norm, at least in the US. Don't know if you're from somewhere else.

outside usa it's just the opposite - nobody uses aim, except .mac subscribers. here in europe almost everyone has msn, and while icq is also popular most icq users also have msn.

if apple wants ichat to be used outside usa, they better add msn & icq support.

[tex210]

I thought ICQ was AIM?

outside usa it's just the opposite - nobody uses aim, except .mac subscribers. here in europe almost everyone has msn, and while icq is also popular most icq users also have msn.

if apple wants ichat to be used outside usa, they better add msn & icq support.

[TorbX]

All the people I know. I know, literally, three people who use MSN Messenger, and they all have AIM screennames. It does seem to be the norm, at least in the US. Don't know if you're from somewhere else.

--Cless

Yes, that may be the norm in the US of A. But I just CANT understand WHY!? I mean, have you guys ever even compared the two programs? I usually dont say this about microsoft, but MSN Messenger is quite a neat little program. Compared to AIM 5.5 its heaven. Come on, AIM is so 1994! The colours, the buttons, the non-intuitive GUI...

UAGH...!!!

[JFreak]

I thought ICQ was AIM?

no, it's not, it's icq; however, it's supposed to be compatible somehow but it's flaky. i think supporting icq would be much easier for apple [than supporting msn], but i guess they will some day announce the support for both at the same time. if at all...

[mainstreetmark]

Someone should just make some type of hub service, where, out on the internet somewhere is some entity that can speak to all the services available. Someone sends it a message in say, MSN, it hears it and relays it to you in your single chat medium of choice. When you respond, the message is relayed back to the original sender in the original medium (MSN).

That way, people like me would just need to connect once, and not have to wrestle with Adium or Proteus, each of which are half finished in different ways.

All these different mediums are just becoming a pain.

[ktrout]

I agree completly, I don't know anyone who doesn't use MSN.
I don't.

Now you know someone who doesn't use MS Messenger.

[tex210]

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963699.html
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/03/15/aol_embraces_social_networking/no, it's not, it's icq; however, it's supposed to be compatible somehow but it's flaky. i think supporting icq would be much easier for apple [than supporting msn], but i guess they will some day announce the support for both at the same time. if at all...

[Karlchen]

When I turn off my iSight manually (turning on the ring...) my audio option is turned off as well, even though I was not video-conferencing....

That seems to be one great improvement of the new update...
:-(

Anyone else notice that ?

[rtdunham]

i'm getting an error message that the update can't be installed because "iChat AV 2.0 was not found in /Applications". I have the iChat AV 2.1 beta there...what do i have to do to upgrade to the new version? Where would i get the old AV 2.0? why won't it update from the beta to the "real" version?
any suggestions?
terry

[JFreak]

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963699.html

that's exactly what i meant by stating the compatibility is flaky - can you add icq accounts to your ichat address book? -no. can you talk to icq buddies with ichat? -no.

they are two different systems and ichat plays nice with one of them. for icq user to talk to aim user and vice versa, they need to use icq and aim software.

i want to use ichat for instant messaging, but i can't. most people in europe have msn and that's what ichat needs to be compatible with as most icq people also have msn account and don't mind using it. if ichat cannot talk to neither of them, it's useless in europe as aim is totally not supported here.

even icq support in ichat would be a plus, but it's not enough to make ichat really shine. sad but true, apple needs microsoft in this case...

[frankly]

even icq support in ichat would be a plus, but it's not enough to make ichat really shine. sad but true, apple needs microsoft in this case...

Actually, I think that what needs to happen is for instant message transmission to be standardized. That way anyone could instant message anyone with an IM account, no matter where they got it or what software they are using. Just like email.

Later, Frank

[ingenious]

That's what i'm waiting for. Also, it's useless if the people using AOL IM dont upgrade to the latest version. And AOL dont send out any information when they release new versions of IM. I use to be versions behind and not know it.:(


AOL does too send out notices when your version is behind. I have gotten them before. (upgrade from 5.2 to 5.5)

[ingenious]

i'm getting an error message that the update can't be installed because "iChat AV 2.0 was not found in /Applications". I have the iChat AV 2.1 beta there...what do i have to do to upgrade to the new version? Where would i get the old AV 2.0? why won't it update from the beta to the "real" version?
any suggestions?
terry


open ichat, click "iChat (beta)" menu and then click 'revert to ichat 2.0' then try to install.

[ingenious]

Someone should just make some type of hub service, where, out on the internet somewhere is some entity that can speak to all the services available. Someone sends it a message in say, MSN, it hears it and relays it to you in your single chat medium of choice. When you respond, the message is relayed back to the original sender in the original medium (MSN).

That way, people like me would just need to connect once, and not have to wrestle with Adium or Proteus, each of which are half finished in different ways.

All these different mediums are just becoming a pain.
or they should just make all IM networks compatible with each other. I agree, I like different ones for different reasons. I like Yahoo! IM for its great AV ability on windows (havent tried it on a mac) and AOL for buddy icons (on win, sorry only use MSN and ichat on my mac) and i love MSN messenger 6 for all of its features. On the mac, i love ichat's simplicity and the rendezvous feature. I like MSN for its great Aqua look. There just needs to be interoperablity between everything and a client or clients that support every feature of every other one on mac windows and linux.

[neon]

I don't.

Now you know someone who doesn't use MS Messenger.
me either. and i'm in the uk!
if people want to talk to me and don't use aim it's sort of tough.

[JFreak]

Actually, I think that what needs to happen is for instant message transmission to be standardized.

true. but it will not happen without msn & aim working together.

[killmoms]

or they should just make all IM networks compatible with each other. I agree, I like different ones for different reasons. I like Yahoo! IM for its great AV ability on windows (havent tried it on a mac) and AOL for buddy icons (on win, sorry only use MSN and ichat on my mac) and i love MSN messenger 6 for all of its features. On the mac, i love ichat's simplicity and the rendezvous feature. I like MSN for its great Aqua look. There just needs to be interoperablity between everything and a client or clients that support every feature of every other one on mac windows and linux.

Yeah, the only problem with that being that the client makers don't want that to happen, so all the folks who are trying to do that have to do it the hard way: reverse engineering. It makes for slow progress and feature-lag.

It doesn't help that the project that's farthest along (in most areas), Trillian, is PC-only and closed source. I love Trillian, and paid for it, and still use it on the PC. I'd love to see it come to MacOS X (or at least be outsourced to some Mac devs if they don't want to hire them in-house), but they've pretty much said "we're not doing it."

On the Mac, all three multi-IM clients (Adium, Proteus, and Fire) have their strong and weak points, and they're all in different areas. Adium and Proteus both have better interfaces (IMHO) than Fire, and Adium's is more customizable, but Proteus has the message drawer (which is awesome) and the others don't. Adium supports file-transfer (though only halfway right now) and Proteus doesn't at all. In the interest of full-disclosure, I haven't used Fire in a long time; I was so turned off by its interface that I haven't touched it since last October or so.

To bring this back around on-topic (sort of), iChat is the most fully-featured AIM client on the Mac that isn't AIM proper, but it's missing "duh!" items like profiles. And, it's one of the few Apple apps where I disagree with a significant number of the interface choices made, and of course I can't really customize it. About the only thing I plan to use it for is video conferencing once I get an iSight.

--Cless

[settledown]

im pretty sure if you go to address book and enter their icq NUMBER to the AIM name, then add the address book contact to ichat it will see the icq NUMBER

I say number because you cant use the icq name.

try it and let us know