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iChat - features you would like to see

H

Heart Break Kid

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 13, 2003
574
8
Toronto
I love iChat. It's elegant, seemless and efficient. I would make it the default app on my Mac if I could. The problem is its missing some stuff I would like to see.

1. I would love to see yahoo/msn support. I know it probably will never happen, but I figure if Trillian and Fire can do it, why cant iChat? Is it a legallity issue?

2. How bout letting iChat be able to video conf. with the other 95% of the world? Id love to see a stable Mac-PC video conf through iChat.

3. see above but for audio chat

4. how about integration with other iApps? So forexample, if ya wanted to send a pic to a family member, you could have some sort of drop down menu that has all ur pics in your library thumbnailed?

anything else you guys want to see that I didnt mention? for me iChat is the only way to communicate - but right now its the only way to communicate bw macs.
 
well there was lots of features i did want, but then i switched back to adium and gave adium 2.0 a shot. it has everything i want, i only miss acouple of things from ichat. but here is what ichat would need to have for me to give it another shot. it needs tabbed instant messaging, all those im screens take up way to much room. when you have an away message, it should actually respond back with the away message. it should have easier access to user profiles and information, for a long time i thought ichat didnt support member profiles or alerts when they sign on, but i found it the other day when i was looking around. also they should add an event bezel for people to customize to their liking. i know there are some freeware add-ons on versiontracker, but it should be included.

iJon
 
I think Im the only person who doesnt care for the bubble messages. Seriously, they need to be replaced with something less cartoonish. OSX is being streamlined and turned into a professional looking OS. The bubbles just kind of make the whole tone of the program drop. I know you can change them to separated rectangles, but that so boring. C'mon Apple, do your thing! Aside from that, I like some Adium2 features like tabbed messages. iChat definitely needs a AIM profile manager and support for more than just AIM networks.

Sorry for the regurgitation of ideas, but anything repeated is more support. :)
 
Animated buddy icons... come on Apple, you're already half way there.

Buddy Profiles... I believe someone mentioned that they have them, but I could never find out how to set it.

And lastly, support for AIM buddy list groups... that part kills me.

Get these three things, and I'll switch back to iChat from AIM.
 
I don't really see a need for groups unless you have a ton of people to talk to.
I don't know about you but I can group all my buddies.

I think AIM should work with iChat to expand the network.

I think they should include all yahoo and ICQ users as well.

Animated icons? Well I really don't care for them and some of my buddies have them.

I think they could still have the comic book chat as I love comics but they should give you an option to goto a more text based view.

But if you guys want something you should send Apple feed back on it. Because thats what I do if I want something. Been doing it alot with iTunes lately.
 
Originally posted by ZildjianKX
Animated buddy icons... come on Apple, you're already half way there.

Buddy Profiles... I believe someone mentioned that they have them, but I could never find out how to set it.

And lastly, support for AIM buddy list groups... that part kills me.

Get these three things, and I'll switch back to iChat from AIM.
Click to expand...

You can view other people's profiles but not set your own.

Also, AIM groups exist in iChat and can be modified.

You can also talk to ICQ users now.

I'd just appreciate more stability in iChat. It's better but not great yet.
 
Originally posted by Heart Break Kid
what is tabbed messaging? this idea is new to me
Click to expand...
just think of how safari works with the tabbed windows, same thing with tabbed messaging.

if you guys want alot of the features your requesting go download the latest build of adium 2.0, i have been overwhelmed with how much i can customize this.

www.adiumx.com

iJon
 
For those of you who want compatibility with different services, that's not likely to happen, why not use Fire or Proteus instead of iChat and other chat applications?
 
see, the reason why i want ichat to support other stuff is simply because i think its the best chat prog out there. i like how it looks, how well it works with the os and the idea that apple is backing it makes it even better

i just would like to see a few other additions to it is all
 
In general, I would rather see 3rd parties doing the chatting and keeping it compatible with each other - no MSN Messenger, no iChat.

If Apple are going to do chat, then make it much better by integrating with other operating system functions and iApps (iPhoto is one good idea!).

There are lots of things you can do if 2 computers know where each other are. We take for granted what we can do with computers in the same office or house - what about if all the things you can do with nearby computers (sharing printers, photos, moving files back and forth, accessing a database) - what if that could be done over iChat?

All your registered buddies could be optionally authorised just like any other user - use standard mac file and printer security. They could make a server iChat - so all your work's remote Mac users could simply dial the internet, open iChat to the server, and access all their work network. Maybe add application specific sharing for iPhoto, iTunes (it would keep Apple in control of shared music), iCal - even an iSync option (and allow 3rd party Apps to do the same!).

That's what I'd like to see added. Security would be hell but Apple's got the pieces (AACs DRM, VPN, standard network security).
Greg
ps: Add Apple Remote Desktop so you could manage/take over remote Macs that had authorised you.
 
MSN support. I don't use iChat because I only know 2 people with AIM, and they also have MSN so I just use MSN instead of iChat.
 
I would like something like ARD and iChat, something like MS Netmeeting or LiveOffice... that would be cool!

you know, Video and audio chats are cool, but I think apple should release an app for true collaboration, windows, linux, unix, and macs, ....

MS Netmeeting and its clones are a great tool! something inexpensive... but apple should not drop Apple Remote Desktop, but make something like netmeeting...
 
Originally posted by G5orbust
I think Im the only person who doesnt care for the bubble messages. Seriously, they need to be replaced with something less cartoonish. OSX is being streamlined and turned into a professional looking OS. The bubbles just kind of make the whole tone of the program drop. I know you can change them to separated rectangles, but that so boring. C'mon Apple, do your thing! Aside from that, I like some Adium2 features like tabbed messages. iChat definitely needs a AIM profile manager and support for more than just AIM networks.

Sorry for the regurgitation of ideas, but anything repeated is more support. :)
Click to expand...

If you don't like the bubble messages just turn them off...you can do that in iChat. I personally like them but to each his own.
 
I was initially pretty disenchanted with ichat, but every other chat app loses to ichat simply because of ichat's integration with the address book. that's key.

Things I'd like to see though (i started a thread like this once before, so sorry if anyone's already read my rants on this...):

1) tabbed windows. holy christ yes. i used to use GAIM (which i adored mostly because of its tabbed windows) back in my Linux days, but (though i'm sure it could be run off of the unix base of osx) it isn't integrated with the addressbook, which is a feature i refuse to give up. Still, tabbed windows is a HUGE organizing advantage that's often overlooked. It NEEDS to be an option in future encarnations of ichat.

2) wider compatability. icq, yahoo, msn, all of that. I don't use most of them, but when i DO use yahoo or icq or what have you, it's WONDERFUL to be able to do it all in one prog.

3). yeah, animated buddy icons. what the hell. not important, but it just seems silly NOT to have it.

4) buddy info. now i know i can CHECK other people's buddy info...great...but i still have to keep a version of AIM for mac around just to edit my own info. that's absurd. totally absurd.

5) multiple simultaneous accounts. this is also something of a luxury, but something i got used to with gaim: the ability to be signed on with multiple accounts at once. different people have different IM names of mine, and i'd like to be able to be signed on to a few at once.


ichat disappoints me a little: it seems like kindof a half-assed result for a company that's usually so good about producing only the ultimate version of a program. (compare itunes to winamp, for example, and then compare ichat to AIM. ick.) You can do better, mac.
 
Originally posted by absurdio
I was initially pretty disenchanted with ichat, but every other chat app loses to ichat simply because of ichat's integration with the address book. that's key.

Things I'd like to see though (i started a thread like this once before, so sorry if anyone's already read my rants on this...):

1) tabbed windows. holy christ yes. i used to use GAIM (which i adored mostly because of its tabbed windows) back in my Linux days, but (though i'm sure it could be run off of the unix base of osx) it isn't integrated with the addressbook, which is a feature i refuse to give up. Still, tabbed windows is a HUGE organizing advantage that's often overlooked. It NEEDS to be an option in future encarnations of ichat.

2) wider compatability. icq, yahoo, msn, all of that. I don't use most of them, but when i DO use yahoo or icq or what have you, it's WONDERFUL to be able to do it all in one prog.

3). yeah, animated buddy icons. what the hell. not important, but it just seems silly NOT to have it.

4) buddy info. now i know i can CHECK other people's buddy info...great...but i still have to keep a version of AIM for mac around just to edit my own info. that's absurd. totally absurd.

5) multiple simultaneous accounts. this is also something of a luxury, but something i got used to with gaim: the ability to be signed on with multiple accounts at once. different people have different IM names of mine, and i'd like to be able to be signed on to a few at once.


ichat disappoints me a little: it seems like kindof a half-assed result for a company that's usually so good about producing only the ultimate version of a program. (compare itunes to winamp, for example, and then compare ichat to AIM. ick.) You can do better, mac.
Click to expand...
adium 2.0 incorporated gaim support in their latest alpha build the other day, go check it out, it works quite nicely.

iJon
 
Originally posted by plasticparadox
Video/audio chatting with Windows/*nix users. Apple should make an iChat for Windows client!
Click to expand...
nooo they shouldnt. apple should only make ichat for windows if they can dominat the market. apple did it with itunes cause every mac user pretty much loves itunes and uses it . i dont even use ichat anymore, and a lot of mac users arent happy with it. apple just needs to work with aol to get support, thats all.

iJon
 
Originally posted by iJon
nooo they shouldnt. apple should only make ichat for windows if they can dominat the market. apple did it with itunes cause every mac user pretty much loves itunes and uses it . i dont even use ichat anymore, and a lot of mac users arent happy with it. apple just needs to work with aol to get support, thats all.

iJon
Click to expand...

The AIM beta for Windows has implemented video/audio chat, yet it's incompatible with iChat. If AOL didn't implement it now, well, I'm not sure that they will ever.

The only way I'll buy an iSight is if there is a decent Windows client available so that I can communicate with 95% of my friends.
 
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