Instant Messaging in Mozilla

The Mozilla project has decided to add Instant Messaging and Chat capabilities to the browser. As a proof of concept, an IRC client protocol implementation will be developed with the hopes that others will add other protocols later.

Comments

This was JWZ's idea, actually.

[Paul Crowley]

I'm amused at the reactions that say "oh no, now that JWZ has left it's all going to pot", since this integration was originally his idea. Read his "unity of interface" paper referenced on the project front page (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/chat/) before coming to judgement, people. The Mozilla crowd aren't stupid.
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slashdot luddites

[thomasd]

Code-bloat is a valid concern. There's a strong argument that we really shouldn't need PII-350s with 10gig hard discs. That said, I do agree with your main point: this isn't an excuse for techno-luddism. The solution to code-bloat is to write small, self-contained modules (something the Mozilla people now seem to have got the hang of rather well).

It's YOUR project

[thomasd]

It's amazing to see so many negative reactions to an announcement which, to my mind, just confirms the commitment of mozilla.org to interesting, creative, hacking. This doesn't mean extra delay and bloat before we see a release browser. Really.

Mozilla work on all kinds of projects beyond the direct push towards the codebase for Netscape 5.0. All those handy development tools, for a start. Plus oddballs such as ElectricalFire and Grendel. This is just another idea that's being bounced around. I really don't expect it to take away programmer time from work on the main browser core. But on the otherhand, maybe some of us would like to hack on this.

Complaining won't do any good -- if you don't want to code, just sit back and wait for 5.0, then use it however you like. Or don't, if you prefer, it doesn't really matter. On the other hand, if you do want to take control then get coding, or documenting, or testing, or whatever takes your fancy. This can be your project just as much as it is AOL's. Get to it.

Mozilla (what else)?

[Rick_T]

First off, let me say that I'm not a good enough code hack to understand much about the Mozilla code, but I have to agree with some of the other posters here - why isn't getting the browser component stable and fast the highest priority for the Mozilla developers? Heck, at this point I'd just settle for stable and let fast come when it may.

I use Mozilla every day - a version before the new layout engine debuted - on my Alpha because it's about the only graphical browser that will run natively. Imagine my surprise when I tried the M3 milestone release and much less stuff worked correctly (or at all) than the October 1998 version I'm using for casual browsing now.

I realize that much of the work between then and now went to the rendering engine (and, running viewer I could see the improvements), but why even bother with other stuff like chat when apprunner's in such sore need of repair?

My kingdom for a nice browser that doesn't require me to use my Alpha to emulate an x86! :)

slashdot luddites

[arielb]

Sometimes I get the impression that alot of the people knocking this off probably don't even use ICQ or AOL IM (oh no! both owned by AOL!) In fact I get the impression that some would just as soon return to the gopher days with no graphics on websites. (oh no! I can't have that kind of bloat on my 350 mhz PII with 64 megs and 10 gig hd!!!)
I think this is a cool idea-it's not essential to the mozilla project but it certainly won't kill it either. So please, ignore the luddites. This is a killer feature-being able to integrate ICQ, AOL IM and irc

Bloat

[Captain Zion]

And I thought Mozilla would allow us to have have a clean, fast, debloated browser. Does anyone know if will it be possible to leave Java, Javascript, and all the useless chrome (i.e. drag and drop support, chat, addressbook etc) out when compiling? I dislike the idea of having an all-in-one application -- stand-alone, highly specialized applications seem to be much better.