iChat BT?

[mkrishnan]

It'd be hard for Apple to get support for a multi-client chat thingy. All those other multi-chat programs do so sorta illegally (don't think it's "truely" illegal because non of the players takes any legal action) but MS, Yahoo, etc. do change their protocol every now and then to stop multi-clients, but this is usually only a day or two before a new updates are released. I'm sure if iChat had MSn/Yahoo support Microsoft and Yahoo would definitely sue.

Weren't there big lawsuits being tossed back and forth between...hmmm..wasn't it AOL and MSN over chat compatibility once upon a time? Like one kept changing their standard to make the other incompatible, and then finally it escalated into lawsuits? And was sorta wrapped into the Netscape / MSIE lawsuit, cuz by that time, AOL owned NS....

LOL, I was trying to look up articles on that fight and those lawsuits, and several articles from more than a year ago predicted the settlement would pave the way for AOL and MSN msngr interoperability...guess things don't move all that quickly.

I'm thinking the Bluetooth button will be for a bluetooth headsets, which seems a pretty good idea as open mics and speakers aren't great an office environment.

Sabbath, this would make sense. IIRC, there was a BT firmware upgrade a few months ago that gave headset functionality. I tried pairing my headset with my iBook but I couldn't get it to do anything....

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

use adium's extras, i prefer the paper & plastic matching theme set. i personally want to purge every time i see aqua now...i hate the candy look, makes me feel like a child. kudos to shapeshifter.

o and put proteus out of business? who actually pays to use their product? what a pile...adium is free and better.

you know who apple really needs to "imitate" (if you think they ripped of konfab...which they DID NOT) is Unsanity's Shapeshifter, Aqua is hideous and themes incorporated at the system lvl would be excellent.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

use adium's extras, i prefer the paper & plastic matching theme set. i personally want to purge every time i see aqua now...i hate the candy look, makes me feel like a child. kudos to shapeshifter.

o and put proteus out of business? who actually pays to use their product? what a pile...adium is free and better.

you know who apple really needs to "imitate" (if you think they ripped of konfab...which they DID NOT) is Unsanity's Shapeshifter, Aqua is hideous and themes incorporated at the system lvl would be excellent.

What's wrong with Aqua? If it's too bright, you can change to the Graphite look in System Preferences - gets rid of all those candy colors.

I agree with you about Proteus - why even bother? Adium and Fire are free, and do the same things Proteus does (I don't use any of them).

Apple provided the Graphite option for people like you, IMO. Apple would probably prefer that users didn't use ShapeShifter or other theming programs.

 

[whfsdude]

All iChat would need is Jabber support and Jabber has gateways to MSN and Yahoo

 

[TigerPRO]

Apple provided the Graphite option for people like you, IMO. Apple would probably prefer that users didn't use ShapeShifter or other theming programs.

I'm curious, do you have insight into why this is. Apple seems to be resisting implementing anything close to this in OS X. They've had plenty of time, so it's obvious to me they don't want to do it.

My own personal theory is that they don't want consumers giving OS X a bad name by slapping their own ugly themes on top of it. They would rather maintain a singular reputation of there operating system's "brand".

 

[travis]

so using your BT enabled cell as you iCHat mic... does BT even have enough bandwidth to sound decent? I mean, if Apple were able to do this, you could use your cell phone as remote speakers for you mac, sorta? imagine:
so you iMac detects your phone is near by, and you have a setting checked somewhere your phone is always where you are. your iMac then detects that your BT enabled phone now has a weaker signal, possibly out of earshot of your iMac's speakers. Your iMac then pumps some really tinny sounding voices over your phone's speaker so that you can keep up with the iChat in progress and MAYBE still talk via your phone's mic. Ok, so now you've moved really far from your mac, and bluetooth is no longer close enough... in comes.... Airport Express! the sounds from the chat are now pumped to your llving room speakers and iChat puts an away message up that you are away... which is similar to being away during a text chat. you can still read what pops up on your screen, but the other person doesn't know you could simplybe not responding OR you truly could be away... same thing for voice chats right? you COULD be away, or you could just be listening, which would also auto mute your mic (so there is no unwanted audio feedback).., did i make any sense? that would kinda be using itunes's on-the-fly lossless and throwing it to the AXpress stream... should be possible, maybe with salling clicker for proximity checks... maybe with class one BT adapters (100meters) this tech could happen, be anywhere in your house, use your phone to talk, or even a push to talk feature, yet have a full-duplex convo going on via your AXpress enable home stereo speaker system... question... can iTUnes pump tunes out to more than one airport express at a time? just wondering... that's enough ranting... later!
-Travis
my first post after a LONG hiatus

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I'm curious, do you have insight into why this is. Apple seems to be resisting implementing anything close to this in OS X. They've had plenty of time, so it's obvious to me they don't want to do it.

My own personal theory is that they don't want consumers giving OS X a bad name by slapping their own ugly themes on top of it. They would rather maintain a singular reputation of there operating system's "brand".

TigerPRO, I strongly suspect (97% certainty) that your own personal theory is correct.

 

[scottie924]

Maybe the reason they don't have cross platform is they dont' want to support microsoft in any way. Bill gates sent out a memo to his employee's a month or so ago (I read this online but I don't know where it was) saying that he was upset at the number of microsoft employee's that are using iPod's around the microsoft office's. Apple might know they are getting more and more support from PC users. I personaly don't mind having all three service's running at the same time because I use them all for certain things and the multiplatforms for me are hard to log off of just one or two of the services. I do hope that they get tabbed windows, groups, and if you can video and audio chat with people on AIM through iChat I will not no need for my PC other than using it for an alarm clock. I will enjoy iChat so much more with those things.

PS. Does anyone know any programs that would turn my mac on (or wake it from sleep) and play a playlist in iTunes at a certain time? I use my PC for it right now but I couldn't find any programs on a mac to do this. I have OS X and an iMac (the new nice one. I love it, it's my first mac and now I'm converted to loving macs they are so much better but that is another story.) I use windows task manager to do it right now on my PC but I can't find anything like that on a Mac. Keep in mind I am kinda new to macs still so I don't know if there is something like that that could be sort of hidden somewhere. Thanks

 

[Applespider]

My own personal theory is that they don't want consumers giving OS X a bad name by slapping their own ugly themes on top of it. They would rather maintain a singular reputation of there operating system's "brand".

I think this is partly true but not just for 'brand' purposes but for ease of use. Just imagine the chaos with odd cursors/text/images etc.

Most people I've seen with seriously 'themed' computers have done so because they're a serious fan of a something. Or because they've installed them accidentally and can't get rid of it again!

It's challenging enough for the average user to change the desktop image!

 

[jrober]

Could these small icons and the BT link be associated with cellphones. The push to talk feature taking hold in the far east. Could there be aprts of the iChat s/w which is in the package but is actually iChat AV for mobiles?

 

[ahamilt2]

And to those Adium users how do you get your adium to look nice, I just never really like the feel of it. I wish iChat was multi client.

Just go to the prefs and play around until you find something you like.

 

[fisious]

Adium v iChat

iChat is a mac only program, making it very obscure. Unlike the chances of a windows app being able to negotiate the same thing. It's almost like Yahoo and MSN wouldn't care because so few people would be using iChat.

Umm, iChat=AIM, lot's of people still use AIM/ICQ. No?

Adium rocks. I will only use iChat when I finally get around to getting an iSight.

Funny how lot's of you want the tabbed chatting. I turned that off in Adium. And the flexability in skinning Aduim on your own is fab. My adium is all transparent whilst I have a white background. It's like it's not there, but I always know what's going on with it.

 

[cyanide]

Maybe the reason they don't have cross platform is they dont' want to support microsoft in any way. Bill gates sent out a memo to his employee's a month or so ago (I read this online but I don't know where it was) saying that he was upset at the number of microsoft employee's that are using iPod's around the microsoft office's. Apple might know they are getting more and more support from PC users. I personaly don't mind having all three service's running at the same time because I use them all for certain things and the multiplatforms for me are hard to log off of just one or two of the services. I do hope that they get tabbed windows, groups, and if you can video and audio chat with people on AIM through iChat I will not no need for my PC other than using it for an alarm clock. I will enjoy iChat so much more with those things.

PS. Does anyone know any programs that would turn my mac on (or wake it from sleep) and play a playlist in iTunes at a certain time? I use my PC for it right now but I couldn't find any programs on a mac to do this. I have OS X and an iMac (the new nice one. I love it, it's my first mac and now I'm converted to loving macs they are so much better but that is another story.) I use windows task manager to do it right now on my PC but I can't find anything like that on a Mac. Keep in mind I am kinda new to macs still so I don't know if there is something like that that could be sort of hidden somewhere. Thanks

you should try iAlarm. there are a lot of other quirky alarm programs out there, but this one is the one i like most. it can wake you up to itunes, by reading your local weather to you, or lots of other options.

 

[c333wall]

iChat Jabber Server on MAC OS X can I SMS?

Has anyone set up thier own internal Jabber / iChat server to use SMS?

I haven't been able to find a way to configure it so our internal users can get text messages sent to thier cellphones yet.

any help would be appreciated, thx in adv