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Gaim Maintainer Rob Flynn Interviewed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the mover-shaker-and-stirrer dept.

gaimster writes "LinuxQuestions.org just interviewed gaim maintainer Rob Flynn. gaim version 1.0.0 was recently released and it has been the most active project on SourceForge for a while. In the interview, Rob explains what it's like to maintain such a popular project, how he got involved with gaim and what he thinks of some of the IM protocols that gaim supports. He also explains the Ebay auctions that gaim had a while back."

17 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Gaim rules by alatesystems · · Score: 4, Informative

    Gaim is really awesome. We use it internally at work for Jabber(internal instant messenging). It's amazing just how many protocols it supports natively. It is a great client even though it's using GTK in windows. I already donated to the gaim project, and so should anyone else who uses it on a regular basis.

    I love this project and hope it continues well into the future.

    Chris

  2. I love GAIM but ... by SpooForBrains · · Score: 5, Interesting

    GAIM is great, because it keeps pushing the boundaries of IM functionality on Linux, BUT that said, I keep switching back to Kopete, mainly because it integrates with KDE. For an IM client, intergration with the desktop is paramount IMHO.

    --
    "The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
  3. gaim is great by deviantonline · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have been using gaim for sometime over msn/icq and I think its fantastic! It is very stable and has been a staple of my linux desktop for some time. I have also converted many of my windows based friends to the program as well. One thing that is so nice about open source software is that in many cases it is available on multiple platforms.

    --

    spend money here

  4. You know it's popular when... by Justin205 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You get beer donated. ;-)

    Seriously, money is overrated. Send food, send beer, and then you'll really motivate many developers. :-P

    --
    "Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you."
  5. I use it everywhere... by Lispy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's the Firefox of InstantMessenging. My friends adopt it quite easy. It's actually a shame it isn't part of the OpenCD. But I guess that's because it uses GTK (wich is great for a Gnome addict such as me.) ;-)

    1. Re:I use it everywhere... by bizpile · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's actually a shame it isn't part of the OpenCD

      But it is on GNUWin, which is, in my opinion, slightly better that OpenCD (which itself is very good). It's how I got started converting my Windows box to only open source programs (except Windows, of course).

  6. The reason by vijaya_chandra · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the interview
    I had met a girl at the beach that used AIM, and I had no way to talk to her, so, I joined the project to help development.

    Now I know why I don't have any good projects to my name.
    Time to spend more time on the beach I suppose.

    1. Re:The reason by tdvaughan · · Score: 5, Funny

      He could have just....talked to her, but noooo - he had to go and write a program to do it. God help him when he wants to have kids ;).

    2. Re:The reason by randominator · · Score: 5, Funny

      Girlfriend? Fast sports car(s)? Only 24? Social life on the beach? Maintainer on Gaim? What the bloody hell is going on?!? Sure makes me feel like a real achiever, yeah... If you want me, I'll be over there in the corner, hiding under a blanket and sobbing.

    3. Re:The reason by TheBurningDog · · Score: 5, Funny

      obviously a mistranslation by the interviewer...

      I'm sure he meant #thebeach

    4. Re:The reason by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 4, Funny
      Just another tunneling setup problem, right?

      Right?

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
  7. gaim is great, and I especially like Adium by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When I use OS X, I really like Adium. It uses libgaim for its messaging, but has its own native-OSX GUI. I think the GTK gaim could learn a few things that are particularly nice about Adium too---I like how it highlights your buddy's names in the buddy list with color codes depending on current messaging status: green if they're currently typing, blue if they've typed something into a window you haven't checked since then, etc.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  8. New features? by wicka_wicka · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe, before they start adding new features, they should work more on getting the thing completely stable. If I read a couple of my friend's infos, it crashes. If I reconnect and it doesn't work, it crashes. I think that should be a higher priority than a damn webcam.

    --
    hi
  9. gaim, ehhhh by miseryinmotion · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This will probably be modded as a troll considering it isn't the common Slashdot opinion, but oh well.

    I've used gaim off and on over the past year, (on both Linux and windows) and found that the windows port really doesn't compare at all to the Linux version, and to put it simply, on windows, it's really just a waste of resources.

    For all the windows users that can't stand the bloated msn messenger or latest official aim client, I suggest at least checking out Miranda. I was introduced to it a few weeks ago by a long time gaim user (who was fed up with all the inconsistencies and problems with gaim under windows) and have been using Miranda almost exclusively since then. Albeit, it has some current issues with file transfers, but I'm sure that's only a momentary problem.

  10. Re:What's with the Trillian ref? by Tezkah · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, it was suspected that the Cerulean Studios were using GPL code in Trillian, but it has been determined to be false.

  11. Phonegaim? by Goonie · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Lindows people have hacked voice chat into gaim. They've called it PhoneGaim, and they claim they'd like to merge this into the main gaim tree.

    This functionality would be extremely nice to have. Does anybody know if there actually any plans to make this merge happen?

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  12. Re:Why Sean is such an Asshat to Gentoo Devs/Users by darkmeridian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is a reason Gaim devs hate Gentoo users. The users mess with all the settings instead of compiling the source "straight". They put all these compile flags and stuff trying to optimize the hell out of an instant messenging client. Then they bitch and complain to the devs about how the software sucks.

    This is just to illustrate both sides. I used to use Gentoo and I was annoyed by my fellow users.

    --
    A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/