Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the keep-on-IMing-in-the-free-world dept.
sidesh0w writes "Today the folks from Gaim released an alpha version of their Instant Messenger client for Win32." Gaim is the only IM client I've ever used; I still don't like IM, but Gaim is one sweet program.
Bound to happen..
by
psamuels
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Now that the GTK+ Windows port has started to mature, this sort of thing is inevitable. The biggest obstacle to portability in ANSI C these days is usually your GUI layer. The rest of your portability problems - well, that's why we also have glib for Windows..
-- "How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
This is truly great. I also have used gaim for the past few years and have been increasingly dissatisfied with the Windows alternatives. Previosly I have had to content myself with Gaim running remotely through Cygwin and ssh.
At long last I will be able to use blaim (blowfish encrypted AIM) in windows. That is if I can figure out the compile options;-).
Hopefully the development will stay active on this front.
Re:Great Stuff
by
L.Schierer
·
· Score: 2, Informative
you might also want to look at gaim-e at http://gaim-e.sf.net it uses gpg, not blowfish, but irrc it has been more maintained.
I use trillian when I'm at my parents house. Its a current version. I use gaim when I'm a home. I far prefer gaim. Why? Because trillian's interface is ugly, cluttered, and non-standard. (There is no 'intuitive' interface, just standard.) Gaim is pure, simple, and easy.
Gaim uses GTK. Get a GTK skin. Individual application skins make everything look different. Applications should use toolkits (QT, GTK) and then users can skin those.
If you've ever tried it, you'd know it really, really sucks.
Re:Compare and contrast
by
numark
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It's not necessarily...it's just an alternative instant messenging program.
For open source to really succeed, we need to have more than one application in the same area. This is so the average Joe who, say, doesn't like Jabber, has an alternative and is more likely to choose and stay with open source. Before now, if you didn't like Jabber for AIM, the only alternative was to use AOL's closed-source client. Now, if you don't like Jabber, you still have an open-source alternative. That's what it's all about.
-- Want Slashdot headlines on your site? Try SlashHead
Re:Compare and contrast
by
uchian
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Gaim is client side, rather than server side. The main advantage of this is that AOL, etc. cannot block GAIM from accessing their networks, whilst it is fairly simple for them to notice that a jabber server is acting as a gateway and to block that.
As far as Win32 IM solutions go, this is better than Trillian...how? The answer: "It's open source!" isn't valid. While it may become better in time, right now Trillian is the flat out king of Win32 IM solutions in terms of versatility and usability.
I don't doubt that it's a fantastic (and it may very well be the best) IM solution on the Linux platform.
Maybe in time, this will be important news to Win32 users, but right now it's just another program that isn't as good as others already available.
IM in companies: a bad idea
by
kipsate
·
· Score: 4, Informative
[ Slightly off-topic ]
I'm somewhat sceptic to Instant Messaging in companies. I've seen it fail at our company, where they insisted to try it out.
I see it like this: if you have a message for someone and you don't need an instant reply, e-mail is perfect. If you want to send code snippets, or need to transfer information that is somewhat complicated, use e-mail. It enables you to write down everything in a structured way and the receiver can archive the message for later retrieval.
If you want an instant reply, because you need to discuss something, USE THE PHONE. It is much faster than typing, no matter how fast you type. It is much more convenient, you can exchange information really quickly. Especially in combination of a tool like VNC, which enables you to see eachothers screen and take over mouse and keyboard remotely.
In our case there was another unfortunate side-effect of IMing. Within weeks, the IT guys were chatting for hours per day with the girls in the office. Some of them often had three chat sessions open simultaneously. Productivity dropped significantly.
IM silently died.
-- My karma ran over your dogma
Re:IM in companies: a bad idea
by
oyenstikker
·
· Score: 2
We use AIM at the company I work for. We staff computer labs at a college, so the labbies can communicate with each other, with the techs, and with the operations office without disrupting the people working in the labs with noise. The only problem is that when AIM goes down, we're in the dark. (I've tried to get them to run their own IRC or jabber server, but to no avail.)
-- The masses are the crack whores of religion.
Re:IM in companies: a bad idea
by
Trinition
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
If you want to send code snippets, or need to transfer information that is somewhat complicated, use e-mail
Didn't you just say you might not get an instant reply? So what if you need to show someone a code snippet but DO need an instant reply?
archive the message for later retrieval.
Don't know what IM client you used, but I use Trillian, and it does archive things for me.
If you want an instant reply, because you need to discuss something, USE THE PHONE. It is much faster than typing, no matter how fast you type
OK, I have a little exercise for you. Read the following out loud on th ephone, and imagine someone on th other end trying to transpose this back into text:
for(int index = 0; index < list.length; index ++) {
x &= ((Integer)list.get(index)) << index; }
Do you seriously think saying "curly-brace", "binary shift to the left", and "cast to Integer class" are easier to say than type/read?
And what of presence? Do you have some way of known if the person you immediately need is available on the other end? Suppose there were three people who could answer your question... you might have to call all three to determine that no one is available, or sometimes at least more than one if the first guy isn't available. With IM presence, you ca see that immediately befoerehand.
Especially in combination of a tool like VNC
So you want people to mix-and-mach tools to try and come close to something that a new paradigm, IM, does perfectly well? Why even use a phone when you could use a telegraph? Why use a computer when you could use an abacus and some paper?
Within weeks, the IT guys were chatting for hours per day with the girls in the office
And they never did this with the phone? Or send each other e-mails? IM just made it so convenient that they started doing something they had so little drive to do before IM lowered the hurdle? Or maybe they're sepdning less time sending frivilous e-mail and using a more efficient conversational medium, saving disk sapce on the corporate mail server and gaining productivity?
Now, for some business cases that DO work!
Tier-3 support in city A conversing with Tier-2 support in city B, cutting out long distance costs.
Tier-3 support being able to participate in multiple conversations with Tier-2 simulatenously.
Completely tele-commuting-based company keeping their phone lines free for important calls while cutting&pasting code snippets back and forth.
Development office in city A conversing with development office in city B to get information immediately to anser the customer's question on the phone without perceived iterruption.
I don't know why everyone thinks IM is so teenagers can ask each for age/sex/location checks. It is a communication tool, and a very fast, conversational convenient one at that. People can use any conversation medium for good or bad (i.e. e-mail is getting overwhelmed with spam!) Don't chuck out the whole medium just because you've found one malignant thing growing in it. Just use your own judgement, and rules in the case of the fomer poster who works at a company where teh employees have no ethical control over their use of their work time (and the big bosses don't have thecalls to fire them).
Re:IM in companies: a bad idea
by
LinuxHam
·
· Score: 2
OTOH, IBM has used their own IM server product, Sametime, for years. There are more employees in my division than AT&T has *worldwide*, and a lot of us need to consult with each other. Sure, we have "follow me" phone numbers, but to successfully use the phone, a) you actually have to tell the system the number you're at, and b) you either have to run up your own phone card charges or the customer's phone charges.
I regularly IM people in Paris, London, Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (all work related) within minutes of each other or in parallel. Imagine if I took your advice and called all those people!
Finally, there's a great new system under development that rides overtop of Sametime and allows employees to post a question to organizational groups (all the way up to "everyone") The question slides in on the corner of the recipients' desktops for a few seconds with a button to click if anyone wants to provide an answer.
You may have only been thinking about a small business in one facility, but expand your horizon and you'll see its a very different world when you go global.
Re:IM in companies: a bad idea
by
spacefrog
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I use IM constantly in a business environment and have found it to be a major productivity tool.
The fact that your tech guys were using it to get pootang is not a valid argument. That is an HR problem. They could have been spending hours a day e-mailing, phoning or screwing in the broom closet, too. That is like cutting off all internet access because some PHB wanker is surfing for porn.
I use it to communicate with the person who sits five feet across the room from me. It is much less interrupting than a voice conversation, it doesn't matter if he is on the phone, if I have my headphones on, or if I am working from home, or he is working from home, etc. It just works.
We use it to communicate with customers. Much faster turn-around than e-mail. MUCH easier than trying to get everyone on the phone. MUCH quicker than picking up the phone, dialing the number, figuring out their extension, and then getting voicemail.
Much of my communication involves URL's, GUID's, SQL statements, e-mail addresses, large numbers (surrogate database keys), etc. I could not imagine trying to read a GUID or an 80 character URL over the phone and actually getting it right.
You say use the phone? Ugh... Even with a headset, phones are just a pain in the butt. Almost all of my two-five minute phone calls have been replaced with 20-60 second IM sessions. That means I can get back to work and am more productive.
Re:IM in companies: a bad idea
by
Kintanon
·
· Score: 2
My phone doesn't log conversations. That pretty much is the kicker for me.
Re:IM in companies: a bad idea
by
extrasolar
·
· Score: 2
"I don't know why everyone thinks IM is so teenagers can ask each for age/sex/location checks."
Thats because 90% of everyone using IM are teenagers wasting time often checking age/sex/location with each other.
"Don't chuck out the whole medium just because you've found one malignant thing growing in it."
You're right. But most IM clients are designed to waste your time. I'm talking about the strange cutesy toys. I'm talking about the huge lack of security many of them offer. Someone did something with my yahoo account, I haven't been able to log back in since.
Here's some things I'd like to see for IM to be used for Real Work. I'd like to see collaborative editing. Letting two or more people edit a document in real time while discussing the editions. You are talking about coding. It would be great if the IM clients could support more programming editing features, or at least hook into emacs (or your editor de joure).
But honestly, do you see any of the above happening? Its not that IM can't be used for real work. Its just hardly anyone does. And that decides upon the class of features that gets put into the program.
Also, does anyone know what picture ++) turns into in yahoo messenger from the coding example I am replying to?
Re:IM in companies: a bad idea
by
Reziac
·
· Score: 2
I agree for the most part (phone is better if you need instant response in a business setting). But..
I haven't used other clients, but I like AIM -- small, well-behaved, and not too bad for security as such things go (even AOL does some things right:) I've found AIM useful for "conference calls" for projects with friends, where none of us wants to ring up a long distance bill and where it's useful to have a record of what ideas we tossed around. I can see how in *some* business settings, such as where creative ideas are being generated at high speed, it could be equally useful.
The tabbed conversation window should be enough incentive to wait for a stable release of this program on Windows. Other than that, trillian or AIM+ pretty much keep me happy.
Tabbed windows are godsend. I hate it when I have to have several windows open. It clutters the desktop and gets pretty annoying.
Just a quick note, if someone else hasn't already pointed this out. Trillian (both "free" and "pro" versions) does support tabbed conversation, you can attach one or more windows to a particular named container. And you have have multiple containers. I find this to be a very useful feature.
Hope you've got an always-on connection because GAIM has never supported reconnecting, nor staying the the background until a connection is made. On Unix, there's no real alternative, but on Windows, all of them can...
No, not really. With the plugin loaded the following happens:
When you start GAIM (without a connection) it will pop-up the sign-on window. The user must leave the window up until they connect, then must manually intervene to get GAIM to log-on.
When you are logged-on but lose your connection, GAIM will not change a bit. You will see a list of users that were logged-on, and can even send messages (but they won't go through) That's how it works with autorecon... You're better off without it. At least without it you'll know when your messages aren't getting through.
I have the same problem (you're not notified when you're kicked off AIM) also on FreeBSD 4.6, maybe the bug is FreeBSD-specific? I haven't used GAIM on anything but FreeBSD and have always had the same problems.
-- "The lesson to be learned is not to take the comments on slashdot too literally." --Vinnie Falco, BearShare
If the bug is FreeBSD specific, then it just goes to show that the programmers aren't making portable & bug-free software.
I wasn't really looking for it, but I believe the same problem exists on OpenBSD. I recall that autorecon never worked, I assume it was the same problem. Maybe BSD specific then? Sounds about right. Plenty of programmers now are making Linux-only software just because they don't care about anything else.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I've done some further testing, and GAIM says I have been disconnected, several minutes after I signed on with the same screenname on another computer. I suppose it has to do with BSD's timing as compared to Linux (although I set my HZ to 2000) this should be filed in a bug report.
And I share your feelings against Linux-only software. It seems as if there's a whole generation of coders, aimed at writing Unix software for Linux and nothing else. Fortunately however, the last geneation is still around, among the coders in stable projects such as X Windows, Gimp, XMMS and so on. Mplayer is a particularly good example of the "new" generation of hothead Linux coders, and I'm not the only one who noticed it:
Q: I compiled MPlayer with libdvdcss/libdivxdecore support, but when I try to start it, it says: error while loading shared libraries: lib*.so.0: cannot load shared object file: No such file or directory
I checked the file and it is there in/usr/local/lib.
A: What are you doing on Linux? Can't you install a library? Why do we get these questions? It's not MPlayer specific at all! Add/usr/local/lib to/etc/ld.so.conf and run ldconfig. Or install it to/usr/lib, because if you can't solve the/usr/local problem, you are careless enough to do such things.
Perhaps instead of taking the time to flame the person asking the question, the smart aleck could have simply answered the question graciously, then spent the time saved by skipping the flames fixing bugs in the installation script.
Eventually I negotiated my way through the installation minefield created by the agonizing installation and poor design. I stepped through it one gotcha at a time. I won't bore you with a tedious play-by-play, but I will mention that I had more bite marks than I would have if I had napped in a fire ant mound.
Sad how these bright minds have come to only ridicule the average user instead of using their skills for good, isn't it.
-- "The lesson to be learned is not to take the comments on slashdot too literally." --Vinnie Falco, BearShare
Well I just tried it and to say it's crash happy is an understatement. I use gaim in linux and it's great, but for windows I think I'll stick with trillian.
How about using an application that was designed from the ground up to do voice over IP instead of this voice chat shit hacked into an IM client?
Actually, the IM usually serves purely as a broker or VoIP directory if you will. A specialized VoIP can be spawned once the information is worked out in the IM. If your mom gets dropouts or otherwise shitty performance it's probably just her shitty Internet connection. Get her a decent broadband uplink.
-adnans
-- "In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people." --Linus Torvalds
Some Trillian users express usability concerns
by
Uksi
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Everything is plugin...so nothing but AIM/ICQ out of the box.
I was dropped AT LEAST 5 TIMES in 5 minutes
No copy/paste in chat windows (CTRL=C brings up "Colors")
No right-clicks.
No SecureIM.
Can't click to follow links.
COMPLETELY NON-Intuitive interface
So I don't agree with the "no plugins" argument (just go and download the darn things), but the rest are serious problems.
However, it's alpha! Why treat an alpha release like the final product? So, another poster said:
I did make certain to be distinct in saying WinGAIM and not GAIM. I've not used GAIM and from what I've heard and read, it's kick-ass.
I know *for a fact* that the point in releasing their "alpha" 3 days after the Trillian release was to steal thunder. I also know that seanegan is a frequent guest in one of the Trillian channels, where he openly recruits people to try his software.
Since there is plenty of "Trillian-bashing" going on in Trillian forums, I figured I'd point out that if anyone thinks WinGAIM is a viable alternative, they'll be extremely disappointed.
And I know....it's alpha. But if you're gonna run with the big dogs, you've got to be able to piss in the tall grass.
So any Windows Trillian or AOL AIM users who have tried WinGAIM and have experiences to post?
25 bucks is a lot of money for an IM client, even if it can resequence my DNA while I'm idle.
I like how the page has a giant "slashdot" buddy group, with a "wired" link below it... now correct me if I'm wrong, but that plus sign next to the slashdot means that the list is already expanded, indicating that he has no slashdot friends at all!:(
actually, i like trillian. i live in the same office as a call center, and since they are all windows, they use trillian, and i use gaim and that irc client with the vulgar name. its great cause the call center can use the irc feature to access our private ircd and swap confidential info, and they need but one client to do it. in fact it looks like they're one up on me and my layout! i'll randomly find the irc-im plugin that is stable, but until that day...
-- slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Re:GAIM supports jabber!
by
RatFink100
·
· Score: 2
Jabber is a protocol, not a client
Jabber is both a client and a protocol. It's an IM client which supports multiple protocols including its own.
25 bucks is a lot of money for an IM client, even if it can resequence my DNA while I'm idle.
I agree. I'm glad I donated $5 a couple months ago. Also, they're only accepting money for Trillian through paypal now, so if I hadn't donated earlier I'd have to wait for them to accept checks or credit, as I refuse to get a paypal account.
And generally in Windows the plus sign means the list is hidden--click on it to expand, and a minus sign means the list is shown, and clicking it will hide the list. It's similar to the restory/maximize button next to the X in Windows programs.
Great stuff..
by
unorthod0x
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I switched to gaim a long while ago (when I switched my primary workstation to run Linux), after having tried out many other alternatives it seemed like the only one that worked! Of course it doesn't work perfectly, often I'll have people online but not showing up as being so, the lack of file transfer through most conduits is annoying (but, in all honesty, welcome:), real-time multi-user chat just plain ain't there. My adoption of gaim despite all of the above is testament to the fact that there is an acute niche for this kind of software.. Having a Windows version is welcome news; for the rare moments where I have to boot in to Windows it'll be handy not to have to lose touch with everyone.
GAIM was nice to have around on Unix. Too bad the presence of a widely-available Win32 version will force AOL to block it once and for all, in order to maintain their legal position against opening their system up to Microsoft.
Re:So long, GAIM
by
garcia
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
actually I was hoping that the Windows alternative would kinda force AOL to adopt the GAIM software as its own instead of the shit it uses now.
Re:So long, GAIM
by
L.Schierer
·
· Score: 2, Informative
BTDN. AOL tried to block libfaim, the library gaim uses for OSCAR(aim/icq) support last year in May and June. Each block attempt worked for a day or so at most. By the time they gave up, some winaim users were having trouble connecting because Gaim was mimicing winaim so closely packet-wise the server was having false positives. So we aren't really worried that AOL would have better luck this time around.
Trillian 0.74 continues to be free, it's lacking in some of the pro features like plugins but hey, I managed to get by with 4 other versions of Trillian without the plugins.
It may not be Open Source, but it's the next best thing. Free.
-- "For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
Actually, there is file transfer support. I think you need to be using TOC to get it, though. It is not easy to send files, but you can definitely receive them.
I'll add to Xawen's comment the fact that it's distributed as an x86 binary, and as such, running it on anything but an x86 processor (i.e. through the Bochs emulator) is unbearably slow.
What "System resources" means
by
yerricde
·
· Score: 2
Yes, but take a look at your system resources and see how much memory your trillian process is using, it's bloated.
"System resources" on Windows, especially when measured in percentage, most often refers to a relic of the Windows 3.1 architecture that gave the user.exe and gdi.exe programs 64 KB of heap each. All programs running on a Windows 9x system share that 64 KB user.exe heap and that 64 KB of gdi.exe heap, no matter how much RAM you have.
On the other hand, Windows NT 3.x, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, and Windows XP give Win32 apps a user and gdi heap as big as available RAM and run Windows 3.1 applications in a virtual machine with its own 64 KB heaps.
The GAIM webpage claims that they have never been the target of a deliberate blocking attempt by AOL. They say that the intermitted connection problems to OSCAR last summer were due to AOL's attempts to block MSN from connecting to the AIM network, which blocked GAIM as collateral damage, but were fairly easy to work around since they weren't specifically targetted at GAIM.
So if they actually did target GAIM, they might have more success.
but that's not the standard Windows keybinding
by
Trepidity
·
· Score: 2
That's the standard DOS keybinding. It still works in most Windows programs as a long-held-over compatibility thing, but it's not the one most people use or expect.
Re:Compare and contrast
by
Drachemorder
·
· Score: 2
Not to mention, Trillian isn't even free (as in beer) any more. Yes, I know they still release a "free" version, but it lacks even features I'd consider critical.
Gaim is fine - Jabber is better
by
Daath
·
· Score: 2
I hear that Gaim speaks jabber - but jabber speaks AIM as well as a bunch of other protocols. I've got a jabber server running, I use ICQv7 protocol, MSN and Jabber - I had Yahoo and AIM installed too but none of my (few) users used it, so I disabled it - less to maintain;)
Anyway I haven't used anything else in more than a year!
Oh yeah and a nice feature of Jabber/ICQv7 is that you can add any mobile phone to your buddy list - and send SMS messages from the IM:) (I know it's ICQ but this is simpler!)
For the client side I use Psi - A VERY cool client - available for BOTH Linux and Windows! It's really nice IM client - granted it does miss a few Jabber features such as chatrooms etc... But I never use that - I only use normal IM chat messages...
--
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
Oh and Psi can use SSL - I use it!
by
Daath
·
· Score: 2
Oh and Psi can use SSL - I use it! It's quite cool;)
--
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
And now gaim! I'm so happy to have a decent AIM client in windoze now. I didn't really like what was already out there with trillian, etc.
Re:Compare and contrast
by
Spy+Hunter
·
· Score: 2
Question: Why can't jabber client authors include a stripped-down jabber server whose only purpose is to run the AIM transport? That way everyone who wants to connect to AIM through Jabber does it from their own computer, making it the same as gaim or Trillian.
I'm working on a contract at Warner Music Group. Everyone there (at least IT) uses IM... and you know what??? IT WORKS.
Being able to communicate with people spread across different floors or even 100 feet away is very convenient. Phone calls require 100% communication and can't be done in parallel.
Slashdot Mirror
Now that the GTK+ Windows port has started to mature, this sort of thing is inevitable. The biggest obstacle to portability in ANSI C these days is usually your GUI layer. The rest of your portability problems - well, that's why we also have glib for Windows..
"How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
This is truly great. I also have used gaim for the past few years and have been increasingly dissatisfied with the Windows alternatives. Previosly I have had to content myself with Gaim running remotely through Cygwin and ssh.
;-).
At long last I will be able to use blaim (blowfish encrypted AIM) in windows. That is if I can figure out the compile options
Hopefully the development will stay active on this front.
One of the cool things is if both people use Trillian, they can communicate using SecureIM which encrypts their conversations.
It's not necessarily...it's just an alternative instant messenging program.
For open source to really succeed, we need to have more than one application in the same area. This is so the average Joe who, say, doesn't like Jabber, has an alternative and is more likely to choose and stay with open source. Before now, if you didn't like Jabber for AIM, the only alternative was to use AOL's closed-source client. Now, if you don't like Jabber, you still have an open-source alternative. That's what it's all about.
Want Slashdot headlines on your site? Try SlashHead
Gaim is client side, rather than server side. The main advantage of this is that AOL, etc. cannot block GAIM from accessing their networks, whilst it is fairly simple for them to notice that a jabber server is acting as a gateway and to block that.
As far as Win32 IM solutions go, this is better than Trillian...how? The answer: "It's open source!" isn't valid. While it may become better in time, right now Trillian is the flat out king of Win32 IM solutions in terms of versatility and usability. I don't doubt that it's a fantastic (and it may very well be the best) IM solution on the Linux platform. Maybe in time, this will be important news to Win32 users, but right now it's just another program that isn't as good as others already available.
[ Slightly off-topic ]
I'm somewhat sceptic to Instant Messaging in companies. I've seen it fail at our company, where they insisted to try it out.
I see it like this: if you have a message for someone and you don't need an instant reply, e-mail is perfect. If you want to send code snippets, or need to transfer information that is somewhat complicated, use e-mail. It enables you to write down everything in a structured way and the receiver can archive the message for later retrieval.
If you want an instant reply, because you need to discuss something, USE THE PHONE. It is much faster than typing, no matter how fast you type. It is much more convenient, you can exchange information really quickly. Especially in combination of a tool like VNC, which enables you to see eachothers screen and take over mouse and keyboard remotely.
In our case there was another unfortunate side-effect of IMing. Within weeks, the IT guys were chatting for hours per day with the girls in the office. Some of them often had three chat sessions open simultaneously. Productivity dropped significantly.
IM silently died.
My karma ran over your dogma
The tabbed conversation window should be enough incentive to wait for a stable release of this program on Windows. Other than that, trillian or AIM+ pretty much keep me happy.
Tabbed windows are godsend. I hate it when I have to have several windows open. It clutters the desktop and gets pretty annoying.
But in pratice, that's BS.
If you think the lack of encryption on these things makes them only good for hobbyist use...
Businesses use aim/icq/aol and whatnot all the time, officially or unofficially. Just like they use cleartext email, faxes, and phone calls.
Somethign like this, if it works well, can very well end up on desktops in companies.
Trillian, unfortunately, isn't open source. Nevertheless, it's still the best IM client I've ever used.
you have a story about gaim for windows and the headline you come up with (or allow through) is "gaim for windows." lame.
c'mon, this is easy: "windows got gaim."
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
Free Mac Mini
Gabber (http://gabber.sourceforge.net/) can speak SSL and can encrypt messages using GPG.
Since it's Jabber based, it can also do MSN, AIM, ICQ, IRC and lots more at the same time...
Give it a go...
Does anyone know if GAIM is going to support Voice Over IP? IMHO that's the killer app for any IM platform.
-adnans
"In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people." --Linus Torvalds
Quoting the original poster:
So I don't agree with the "no plugins" argument (just go and download the darn things), but the rest are serious problems.
However, it's alpha! Why treat an alpha release like the final product? So, another poster said:
So any Windows Trillian or AOL AIM users who have tried WinGAIM and have experiences to post?
I like how the page has a giant "slashdot" buddy group, with a "wired" link below it... now correct me if I'm wrong, but that plus sign next to the slashdot means that the list is already expanded, indicating that he has no slashdot friends at all!
actually, i like trillian. i live in the same office as a call center, and since they are all windows, they use trillian, and i use gaim and that irc client with the vulgar name. its great cause the call center can use the irc feature to access our private ircd and swap confidential info, and they need but one client to do it. in fact it looks like they're one up on me and my layout! i'll randomly find the irc-im plugin that is stable, but until that day...
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Jabber is a protocol, not a client
Jabber is both a client and a protocol. It's an IM client which supports multiple protocols including its own.
And generally in Windows the plus sign means the list is hidden--click on it to expand, and a minus sign means the list is shown, and clicking it will hide the list. It's similar to the restory/maximize button next to the X in Windows programs.
I switched to gaim a long while ago (when I switched my primary workstation to run Linux), after having tried out many other alternatives it seemed like the only one that worked! Of course it doesn't work perfectly, often I'll have people online but not showing up as being so, the lack of file transfer through most conduits is annoying (but, in all honesty, welcome :), real-time multi-user chat just plain ain't there. My adoption of gaim despite all of the above is testament to the fact that there is an acute niche for this kind of software.. Having a Windows version is welcome news; for the rare moments where I have to boot in to Windows it'll be handy not to have to lose touch with everyone.
GAIM was nice to have around on Unix. Too bad the presence of a widely-available Win32 version will force AOL to block it once and for all, in order to maintain their legal position against opening their system up to Microsoft.
Trillian 0.74 continues to be free, it's lacking in some of the pro features like plugins but hey, I managed to get by with 4 other versions of Trillian without the plugins.
It may not be Open Source, but it's the next best thing. Free.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
Actually, there is file transfer support. I think you need to be using TOC to get it, though. It is not easy to send files, but you can definitely receive them.
Ceci n'est pas un post
Is standard (unencrypted) Internet e-mail unsuitable for business use?
I'd say so, though it's certainly used for it.
May we never see th
What's wrong with the AIM client for Linux?
I'll add to Xawen's comment the fact that it's distributed as an x86 binary, and as such, running it on anything but an x86 processor (i.e. through the Bochs emulator) is unbearably slow.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Yes, but take a look at your system resources and see how much memory your trillian process is using, it's bloated.
"System resources" on Windows, especially when measured in percentage, most often refers to a relic of the Windows 3.1 architecture that gave the user.exe and gdi.exe programs 64 KB of heap each. All programs running on a Windows 9x system share that 64 KB user.exe heap and that 64 KB of gdi.exe heap, no matter how much RAM you have.
On the other hand, Windows NT 3.x, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, and Windows XP give Win32 apps a user and gdi heap as big as available RAM and run Windows 3.1 applications in a virtual machine with its own 64 KB heaps.
Will I retire or break 10K?
So does winGaim. When you open the plugins dialog box it just start at the right directory though
May contain traces of nut.
That's pretty much it. Hooray for network effects.
DNA just wants to be free...
The GAIM webpage claims that they have never been the target of a deliberate blocking attempt by AOL. They say that the intermitted connection problems to OSCAR last summer were due to AOL's attempts to block MSN from connecting to the AIM network, which blocked GAIM as collateral damage, but were fairly easy to work around since they weren't specifically targetted at GAIM.
So if they actually did target GAIM, they might have more success.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
That's the standard DOS keybinding. It still works in most Windows programs as a long-held-over compatibility thing, but it's not the one most people use or expect.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Not to mention, Trillian isn't even free (as in beer) any more. Yes, I know they still release a "free" version, but it lacks even features I'd consider critical.
I hear that Gaim speaks jabber - but jabber speaks AIM as well as a bunch of other protocols. I've got a jabber server running, I use ICQv7 protocol, MSN and Jabber - I had Yahoo and AIM installed too but none of my (few) users used it, so I disabled it - less to maintain ;) :) (I know it's ICQ but this is simpler!)
Anyway I haven't used anything else in more than a year!
Oh yeah and a nice feature of Jabber/ICQv7 is that you can add any mobile phone to your buddy list - and send SMS messages from the IM
For the client side I use Psi - A VERY cool client - available for BOTH Linux and Windows! It's really nice IM client - granted it does miss a few Jabber features such as chatrooms etc... But I never use that - I only use normal IM chat messages...
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
Oh and Psi can use SSL - I use it! It's quite cool ;)
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
And now gaim! I'm so happy to have a decent AIM client in windoze now. I didn't really like what was already out there with trillian, etc.
Question: Why can't jabber client authors include a stripped-down jabber server whose only purpose is to run the AIM transport? That way everyone who wants to connect to AIM through Jabber does it from their own computer, making it the same as gaim or Trillian.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
I'm working on a contract at Warner Music Group. Everyone there (at least IT) uses IM... and you know what??? IT WORKS.
Being able to communicate with people spread across different floors or even 100 feet away is very convenient. Phone calls require 100% communication and can't be done in parallel.
Evolution: love it or leave it