Hey,
I realize that iChat has tie-ins with the address book, so you can take people from there, which I'm sure is great if you use the address book.
There's a standard aim protocol feature that allows you to set aliases for people on your buddy list that is NOT stored locally.
This means I can set their alias on AIM 5.9 in windows, reboot into Linux, open up kopete, see that alias, close kopete, open up pidgin, see that alias, reboot into OS X, start adium, see that alias, etc.
It's 100% NOT application specific and it's NOT stored locally.
With that all said, iChat refuses to read this part of the buddy list info, and insists on using nicknames for people from the address book. I do not use the address book, I use people's aliases on names. Due to iChat's breach of protocol (or lack of full implementation, take your pick), I see only screennames, no aliases (I have no idea who's screenname goes to which person, which is why aliases were great for me). I saw the "view" >> "buddy list" part, where you can set it to their screenname, address book nickname, or some other thing, I tried all three, none of them showed the default AIM protocol aliases.
Is there any way to get it to show them?
I use adium, which is a great program, as it's based on the purple engine that drives pidgin (previously gaim), which is, in my opinion, the best IM engine currently in existence. Though I'd like the opportunity to use iChat, the only thing holding me back is the fact that I simply don't use address book, I don't feel like renaming all my contacts, as that would be rather static, and I rather have something (such as the default AIM alias protocol) that dynamically updates what is on the server, as the buddy list associated with my screenname, and I can't remember which screenname goes where for the life of me.
Any way to get this done?
EDIT:
Oh yeah, thanks for reading !
I realize that iChat has tie-ins with the address book, so you can take people from there, which I'm sure is great if you use the address book.
There's a standard aim protocol feature that allows you to set aliases for people on your buddy list that is NOT stored locally.
This means I can set their alias on AIM 5.9 in windows, reboot into Linux, open up kopete, see that alias, close kopete, open up pidgin, see that alias, reboot into OS X, start adium, see that alias, etc.
It's 100% NOT application specific and it's NOT stored locally.
With that all said, iChat refuses to read this part of the buddy list info, and insists on using nicknames for people from the address book. I do not use the address book, I use people's aliases on names. Due to iChat's breach of protocol (or lack of full implementation, take your pick), I see only screennames, no aliases (I have no idea who's screenname goes to which person, which is why aliases were great for me). I saw the "view" >> "buddy list" part, where you can set it to their screenname, address book nickname, or some other thing, I tried all three, none of them showed the default AIM protocol aliases.
Is there any way to get it to show them?
I use adium, which is a great program, as it's based on the purple engine that drives pidgin (previously gaim), which is, in my opinion, the best IM engine currently in existence. Though I'd like the opportunity to use iChat, the only thing holding me back is the fact that I simply don't use address book, I don't feel like renaming all my contacts, as that would be rather static, and I rather have something (such as the default AIM alias protocol) that dynamically updates what is on the server, as the buddy list associated with my screenname, and I can't remember which screenname goes where for the life of me.
Any way to get this done?
EDIT:
Oh yeah, thanks for reading !