1 phone icon vs. 3 phone icons?

[ero87]

In iChat, when I'm looking to see who I can audio/video chat with, some buddies have 1 phone/video icon and others have 3. Why is this? Even some of my non-mac friends have video-icons (but always one!). What does it mean?

 

[mkrishnan]

In iChat, when I'm looking to see who I can audio/video chat with, some buddies have 1 phone/video icon and others have 3. Why is this? Even some of my non-mac friends have video-icons (but always one!). What does it mean?

I think the stacked icons (where it looks like three of the icon are stacked one on top of the other) mean that the person is able to host a multi-way chat of that type. So stacked audio icons mean that person can not only participate in 1:1 chat, but also host a group audio chat. Stacked video icons mean the person can host group video chatting.

The requirements for being able to do this are stated on Apple's website -- it's an iChat-specific feature, AFAIK, which is why you have not seen stacked icons for non-Mac friends.

 

[ero87]

cool makes sense, thanks!