Removal of iChat theater in Mavericks

[Nick A]

I've noticed in Mavericks iChat/Messages theater was removed. For anyone who doesn't know, it was a way of sharing a video, picture, or presentation in a video chat that everyone can see.

Does anyone know why this was removed? It was super useful when working on homework or other things with friends.

 

[Nick A]

No one?

 

[Krazy Bill]

Why does Apple do anything it does? Nobody knows.

 

[haravikk]

If iOS doesn't have the feature then someone at Apple probably decided it wasn't necessary for OS X either. I dunno, some of the feature removal decisions Apple makes are absolutely bewildering; in terms of core technology Mavericks is a big step forward in many areas, but in usability they seem to be taking random leaps back for no clear reason.


I mean there may be some process involved, like the number of people using the feature wasn't enough for Apple to justify continuing to support it, but it seems like something incredibly useful for loads of work applications.

 

[Nick A]

If iOS doesn't have the feature then someone at Apple probably decided it wasn't necessary for OS X either. I dunno, some of the feature removal decisions Apple makes are absolutely bewildering; in terms of core technology Mavericks is a big step forward in many areas, but in usability they seem to be taking random leaps back for no clear reason.


I mean there may be some process involved, like the number of people using the feature wasn't enough for Apple to justify continuing to support it, but it seems like something incredibly useful for loads of work applications.

I'm honestly considering re-installing my whole OS back to ML just for this one feature. It was VERY useful and important, I used it almost every day. I don't see a reason why it was just randomly removed...

 

[haravikk]

I'm honestly considering re-installing my whole OS back to ML just for this one feature. It was VERY useful and important, I used it almost every day. I don't see a reason why it was just randomly removed...

Have you tried copying the Mountain Lion version of Messages into your new installation? If you allowed Time Machine to backup your Applications folder you ought to be able to get it fairly easily, just give a new name like "Messages ML" or such.

If you don't have it in a backup, then you may be able to extract it from the Mountain Lion installer using Pacifist. Just right click the installer and choosing "Show Package Contents", then open Contents/SharedSupport (iirc) and there should be an OSInstall.mpkg in there, just open it in Pacifist and Messages.app should be in one of the essentials packages for you to copy out; again make sure you rename it rather than replacing the Mavericks one, in case it doesn't work.

Just as a possible step before the complete downgrade option

You'll also want to leave some OS X Feedback; I dunno how much impact it really has, but if enough people complain about a lost feature then Apple may bring it back in some way, especially if you mention you'd love it on iOS too, they won't be able to resist!

 

[Nick A]

Have you tried copying the Mountain Lion version of Messages into your new installation? If you allowed Time Machine to backup your Applications folder you ought to be able to get it fairly easily, just give a new name like "Messages ML" or such.

If you don't have it in a backup, then you may be able to extract it from the Mountain Lion installer using Pacifist. Just right click the installer and choosing "Show Package Contents", then open Contents/SharedSupport (iirc) and there should be an OSInstall.mpkg in there, just open it in Pacifist and Messages.app should be in one of the essentials packages for you to copy out; again make sure you rename it rather than replacing the Mavericks one, in case it doesn't work.

Just as a possible step before the complete downgrade option

You'll also want to leave some OS X Feedback; I dunno how much impact it really has, but if enough people complain about a lost feature then Apple may bring it back in some way, especially if you mention you'd love it on iOS too, they won't be able to resist!

Thanks for the tip. I had a time machine backup so I went and dug out the Messages app from ML but unfortunatley it says, "You can't use this version of the application (Messages) with this version of OS X."

I submitted feedback, maybe if a few other people do this they'll bring the feature back?