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So I have a question for the mac community about improvements for AIM

L

lordmac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2004
241
0
Santa Cruz, CA
Ok so here is the deal I know a developer who works for AOL and recently he has been given some control over the design of the AIM program and service. Well, he asked me what improvements I thought there should be. So I thought what community uses instant messaging more then the mac community.
So if you guys could please report any improvements you would like to see for the aim client. Now keep this in mind, he can't do anything about the horrible AOL and Aim client for mac, this stuff would all be for the PC version, but if its successful enough no doubt it would slowly trickle to the mac in one form or another. Also IF he uses any of your ideas don't expect to see "instant delivery" this would all be for stuff way down the line. Also any ideas he proposes have to be passed through people and agreed upon.
Ok, ill help start the creative spark by telling you what he was thinking of proposing: He thinks that if there should be 4 versions of aim, one for kids with parental control type stuff and a very simple interface, one for teens, one for adults, and one for business executives. Also he thought a also he thought that someway to stream you music over to a friends that you have on your computer(ie. I say stream because then theoretically you could stream DRM'ed music and not have the record companies go crazy).
So with out further adue let the suggestions begin. :D
 
Make it look and act more like ichat, the holy grail of all IM programs.


And stop bombarding us with all those blasted advertisements. Or if you can't do that, at least the ones that pop-up if your cursor inadvertently rolls over them. They suck.
 
include a link to trillian.cc from the aim site. seriously, the windows aim client blows. i didnt think so until i found something better. still, paying 20 bucks for the "pro" version is insane...
 
lordmac said:
\
So if you guys could please report any improvements you would like to see for the aim client. Now keep this in mind, he can't do anything about the horrible AOL and Aim client for mac, this stuff would all be for the PC version, but if its successful enough no doubt it would slowly trickle to the mac in one form or another.
Click to expand...

PC version, ugh, yea make me be able to send a message to a person oofline and have them be able to read it when they log back on like Yahoo! Messenger.
 
Extremely easy to set up and work with audio and video chats. None of this "firewall" crap. Just make it work! Or make it simple to set up to work.

Stupid sounds should go bye-bye.
Weatherbug should get kicked. Its annoying, a pain to uninstall, and I believe might even be a form of adware. Not sure though.
Make it interface with iChat nicer. Sending files, receiving files, and even chatting a lot gives errors.
Profiles need to be longer... much longer... please!

Them's my issues. Fix them!

Oh yeah forgot one:
Make it faster. It can always go faster! Optimize, etc. :rolleyes:
 
Wait wait wait...stop suggesting new features. AIM for mac will not be used until it doesn't have keyboard lag. This is unacceptable. The next part is the fact that it doesn't take advantage of OS X's font smoothing, making it look rough and out of place, and it still has the very visible pinstripes reminiscent of Jaguar. The program has not yet made it into the new age. Once it has a decently refined interface, and runs smoothly, it might reach a point where it will be competitive with iChat. maybe.
 
Ughhhh, I want no improvements to AIM except for it to burn in hell. The Mac port is half-assed, and the PC version just gets worse and worse. The last time I used the PC version was oh, over a year ago. And then recently I saw it on someone's PC (version 5.9), and HOLY ADVERTISEMENTS, BATMAN!!! Those things on the sidebar next to the buddy list... Those "lonely? Call a bud!" links on the chat windows, those popups... I ran away screaming like a little girl.

Another reason to add to my already huge list of reasons why I love my Mac.
 
I think there should be two versions, one that is free and has ridiculous advertisements, and another that you pay say 9.99 for with no advertisements and a slew of features, like music streaming, pictures in profiles etc. Kind of like Quicktime Pro is to Quicktime. Seriously, as long as the product works well, has no ads, and something I really will use, I wouldn't mind shelling out 10 bucks. Adium is cool except it is not as robust and widely compatible as the official mac client. (File transfers, images, etc. I always have problems and have to switch to the offical AIM)
 
lordmac said:
Ok so here is the deal I know a developer who works for AOL and recently he has been given some control over the design of the AIM program and service. Well, he asked me what improvements I thought there should be. So I thought what community uses instant messaging more then the mac community.
So if you guys could please report any improvements you would like to see for the aim client. Now keep this in mind, he can't do anything about the horrible AOL and Aim client for mac, this stuff would all be for the PC version, but if its successful enough no doubt it would slowly trickle to the mac in one form or another. Also IF he uses any of your ideas don't expect to see "instant delivery" this would all be for stuff way down the line. Also any ideas he proposes have to be passed through people and agreed upon.
Ok, ill help start the creative spark by telling you what he was thinking of proposing: He thinks that if there should be 4 versions of aim, one for kids with parental control type stuff and a very simple interface, one for teens, one for adults, and one for business executives. Also he thought a also he thought that someway to stream you music over to a friends that you have on your computer(ie. I say stream because then theoretically you could stream DRM'ed music and not have the record companies go crazy).
So with out further adue let the suggestions begin. :D
Click to expand...
No more ad-ware from AIM!!!!!!!!!! I get so much ad-ware from aim. Also make it like yahoo messenger where you can leave messeges for the person even if they are offline. :D
 
Thank you

Thanks everyone for the great idea's. I passed them on to my friend and I thought you might be interested to know that the link to this thread as oddly and rapidly spread through aol right on up to t the high ups. They told them told them that they are planning to use many of these concepts and thought that this method of gathering product idea's very creative. :D
So give your selves a pat on the back and thanks again, Once again the mac community has shown it's usefulness. ;) :D
 
if possible, allow .mac accounts to be used as screen names. I use my (deral@mac.com) as my screen name for iChat, and AIM users can save that as my screen name, but if I wanted to use AIM (maybe on a school computer or on my phone), the .mac screen name cannot be used.
 
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