iChat vs AIM....help me switch

[zagato27]

Ok, the thread title is a bit misleading. I’m trying to get my daughter to switch from AIM to iChat. First of all some background. Number 1 daughter just graduated from college and number 2 daughter will be a freshman in college this August . She wants a laptop but I was really pushing for a Mac Mini. Long story short, she’ll be getting a 14” iBook (Tiger). I’ve setup an account on my G5 for her and unknown to me (at first) she installed AIM . Can’t say I was happy bout that because unlike iChat, AIM is not a “native” Mac program plus I’ve heard that AIM installs all kind of bad little hidden things (at least on PCs, not sure if the same applies to Macs). Tried to convince her that she could do the same things with iChat but she says that she would have to manually start/switch/changover her “buddy list” from AIM to iChat. I don’t really know if this is true or not but I’m trying to make that case that when she gets the iBook she should go to iChat. How can I convince her to make the switch???? Thanks

BTW, when number 1 daughter came home her PC was pretty much toast (she didn’t believe in virus protection). I took her out and got a new hard drive, ram and I really hate to say this…..Windoze XP. Hey, she paid and she wanted to stay with Windoze as the rest of her computer was ok (think she had a AMD Athalon 1.5 gig chip). I did offer to buy her a Mac Mini but she declined. Gosh I feel like I’ve let everyone down. I had the chance to steer her away from the dark side and I failed . Well, I’ve got 3 more chances but fear that my oldest son is headed down the dark side too. He’s 14 and actually saved his money and BTO a PC (AMD chip). Like any kid his age he likes computers and actually knows something about them. Jury is out on number 2 son. Thanks in advance. Cheers

 

[DXoverDY]

Ok, the thread title is a bit misleading. I’m trying to get my daughter to switch from AIM to iChat. First of all some background. Number 1 daughter just graduated from college and number 2 daughter will be a freshman in college this August . She wants a laptop but I was really pushing for a Mac Mini. Long story short, she’ll be getting a 14” iBook (Tiger). I’ve setup an account on my G5 for her and unknown to me (at first) she installed AIM . Can’t say I was happy bout that because unlike iChat, AIM is not a “native” Mac program plus I’ve heard that AIM installs all kind of bad little hidden things (at least on PCs, not sure if the same applies to Macs). Tried to convince her that she could do the same things with iChat but she says that she would have to manually start/switch/changover her “buddy list” from AIM to iChat. I don’t really know if this is true or not but I’m trying to make that case that when she gets the iBook she should go to iChat. How can I convince her to make the switch???? Thanks

BTW, when number 1 daughter came home her PC was pretty much toast (she didn’t believe in virus protection). I took her out and got a new hard drive, ram and I really hate to say this…..Windoze XP. Hey, she paid and she wanted to stay with Windoze as the rest of her computer was ok (think she had a AMD Athalon 1.5 gig chip). I did offer to buy her a Mac Mini but she declined. Gosh I feel like I’ve let everyone down. I had the chance to steer her away from the dark side and I failed . Well, I’ve got 3 more chances but fear that my oldest son is headed down the dark side too. He’s 14 and actually saved his money and BTO a PC (AMD chip). Like any kid his age he likes computers and actually knows something about them. Jury is out on number 2 son. Thanks in advance. Cheers

the buddylist stuff is stored on AOL's servers. So any client you use that connects to AIM should download the buddylist straight from there each time. so she doesn't have to start over.

iChat in Tiger has the ability to show the groups they're in, in Panther you had to only view one group at a time or all groups in one "group" per say...

There's also AdiumX she could use if she wanted to try something else. Proteus as well. (simple google searches will find these)

 

[ITASOR]

The AIM "little bad things" are only with the Windows version...and they aren't really bad...just unwanted and can be chosen not to install on installation. However, the Mac version includes just the AIM application.

The best way to get her to switch would be to tell her exactly how you feel and how much better you think the application is (and it is!). Show it to her and demonstrate how everything works. Turn off the buddy icons on the buddy list to it looks a little more like AIM.

I don't know how anyone could use AIM for Mac...it's so UGLY.

Then tell her to IM me, so I can set her straight...how dare she use a non-Mac program where there is a perfectly great Mac one! Just kidding.

Anyway, good luck!

 

[zagato27]

BTW, when number 1 daughter came home her PC was pretty much toast (she didn’t believe in virus protection). I took her out and got a new hard drive, ram and I really hate to say this…..Windoze XP. Hey, she paid and she wanted to stay with Windoze as the rest of her computer was ok (think she had a AMD Athalon 1.5 gig chip). I did offer to buy her a Mac Mini but she declined. Cheers

Oh yes, I did have her buy anti-virus this time . Cheers

 

[zagato27]

the buddylist stuff is stored on AOL's servers. So any client you use that connects to AIM should download the buddylist straight from there each time. so she doesn't have to start over.

iChat in Tiger has the ability to show the groups they're in, in Panther you had to only view one group at a time or all groups in one "group" per say...

There's also AdiumX she could use if she wanted to try something else. Proteus as well. (simple google searches will find these)

Oooooh, that sounds great. I'm not a AIM/iChat user so I'm not that familiar with it but this sounds like good news. I'll see if I can get her to crank it up and check things out. Thanks. Cheers

 

[wwooden]

If she complains about the bubble look of the instant messages, you can change that to look like an AIM client as well. If you control-click on a chat window, select "view" and then "show as text". I know that has solved some of my friends complaints about iChat.

 

[yippy]

Comprimise, tell her to use Adium, it is so much better than both AIM and iChat.

 

[DXoverDY]

Comprimise, tell her to use Adium, it is so much better than both AIM and iChat.

eh... adium while ok most of the time... i don't know.. it's a pretty unstable pile occassionally.. i'd recommend it only if ichat doesn't fit your needs.

 

[jsw]

I don't know how anyone can use iChat to video-chat in Tiger and then go back to any other chat app. The video is so far ahead of any other video app out there - PC or Mac - that I just don't get why people wouldn't use it.

Yes, I know people text chat, but that's so "'90s". And iChat (3.0) is competitive there as well.

 

[alex_ant]

Relax, pops! Do you still change your daughters' clothes and tuck them in at night too??? Let them do what they want and don't be such a pest about such unimportant things.