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Up to Discussions in Mac OS X
20 Replies Last post: Apr 28, 2006 8:14 AM by Typhoon14   1 2 Previous Next
Click to view digidan's profile New Member
digidan
160 posts since
Sep 22, 2005
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Jan 17, 2006 5:17 PM

iChat vs AIM

Hello!

I've been using AIM (4.7) for quite a while now, and am quite used to it. However, i've noticed that the newest version, 4.7 is rather old (AKA feb, 2004!). Some features do not work with my friends running AIM (6 or 7 is it?) in Windows. Herein lies the problem.

Although i don't like the ads, i like the interface of AIM, and how much you can customize it. (i.e. sounds/actions/etc). I like the interface of iChat less, especially that annoying speech-bubble way they display chats.

I'm just curious - since it seems that AIM for mac is no longer being developed, i probably should switch to iChat.

I do not have an iSight, nor do i do audio chats. I do not (yet) have a .Mac account, so iChat is just AIM for now.

Question:
Have any of you used iChat with windows XP/2k users? Noticed any problems? Benefits of iChat?

Do you know of any way to add features to iChat? or to change the appearence of the default chat screen? I'd switch immediately if i could have iChat play an audio clip when certian actions occur. (i.e. different SFX/qoute plays when each buddy signs on)

Thanks,

Dan
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Click to view Typhoon14's profile Old Hand
Typhoon14
2,156 posts since
Feb 2, 2001
1. Jan 17, 2006 5:45 PM in response to: digidan
Re: iChat vs AIM
Check out Adium (http://www.adiumx.com/). It's an excellent third-party AIM/MSN/Jabber/Yahoo chat client with a great interface and a wealth of features not found in AOL's client or iChat - also extremely customisable.
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Click to view pdrayton's profile Enthusiast
pdrayton
1,821 posts since
Sep 19, 2003
2. Jan 17, 2006 6:43 PM in response to: digidan
Re: iChat vs AIM
In reply to:<hr />
Question:
Have any of you used iChat with windows XP/2k users? Noticed any problems? Benefits of iChat?

<hr />


Yes, I've used it with Windows XP users. Works great. Windows users have their own issues, mainly with video chats, but they have those whether or not we're on Macs.

I find iChat to be very customizable and quite elegant. I also like being able to filter out select users, filter out everyone except for select users, block some people, etc. That's all available in iChat preferences under the security tab.

In reply to:<hr />
o you know of any way to add features to iChat? or to change the appearence of the default chat screen? I'd switch immediately if i could have iChat play an audio clip when certian actions occur.

<hr />


The text bubbles through me off when I first used iChat, but I got used to them almost immediately. It actually makes it easier to keep up with the chat. You can change colors of the bubbles, and you can have specific sounds play for specific buddies when they log in, log off, etc. I have a small group of people where it announces their name when they come online.

I highly recommend iChat. I just don't find a need for 3rd party chat software. You also might want to try audio chats. If you have a notebook you should have a built-in microphone that will work well. And the iSight is a phenomenal camera... the quality of the video chats is excellent. The video window scales to whatever size you want, all the way to full-screen.
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Click to view digidan's profile New Member
digidan
160 posts since
Sep 22, 2005
3. Jan 17, 2006 8:59 PM in response to: pdrayton
Re: iChat vs AIM
Thanks. I may try it for a while. I just need to get used to it.

i Know iSight is awesome. I had one for a while, but for some reason, it wasn't compatible with iChat AV, due to some system issue. I think i had accidentally installed Divx 5, which is not compatible with Tiger/QT 7. That issue was solved when my PB went belly-up, and i did a clean install of OS X. I wish i had it now... before we knew what was causing the issue, we returned it.

To tell you the truth, i'm not that enthusiastic about video chats. I'd be good for some things, but i make a lot of iMovies to send to the people i chat with anyway. I'll mess with audio chat some. I'll also look for a way to add custom Sound effects.

I just thought i'd see what other people thought of the two programs.
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Click to view lkalliance's profile Enthusiast
lkalliance
1,334 posts since
May 5, 2002
4. Jan 17, 2006 9:45 PM in response to: digidan
Re: iChat vs AIM
I LOVE iChat. I was initially not a fan of the text bubbles, and for years I've had them turned off (you do not need to use the text bubble format, you can use just regular text; in essence you can choose between text name and icon, and then also between bubble and not bubble).

I find the interface much preferable to AIM's, pleasing to look at, more integrated into the OS. I like its integration with Address Book and with Mail.

I've chatted mostly with Windows users: text, audio and video (I use an iSight) all with no problems. I, too, use my AIM account. I also have enabled Jabber so I can chat with my MSN buddies via iChat, but the options are much more limited for Jabber, and probably MSN Messenger would give me better experience if I were heavily on MSN.

iChat is one of my daily joys working on the Mac.
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Click to view digidan's profile New Member
digidan
160 posts since
Sep 22, 2005
5. Jan 18, 2006 6:25 AM in response to: Typhoon14
Re: iChat vs AIM
In reply to:<hr />
Check out Adium (http://www.adiumx.com/). It's an excellent third-party AIM/MSN/Jabber/Yahoo chat client with a great interface and a wealth of features not found in AOL's client or iChat - also extremely customisable.


<hr />


Thanks to everyone who gave me their opinion! Last night, i downloaded adium, and it's awesome! It feels like iChat - expecially if you set it up that way - and is as customisable as AIM. Not only that, but it does every chat program i've ever heard of! I'm going to be using that for a while.

Thanks,

Dan
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Click to view jmincey's profile Old Hand
jmincey
3,966 posts since
Aug 27, 2004
6. Jan 18, 2006 6:30 AM in response to: digidan
Re: iChat vs AIM
"I like the interface of iChat less, especially that annoying speech-bubble way they display chats."

1. In iChat, open a text/chat message window for an individual in your Buddy List.
2. From the "View" menu select "Show as Text."
3. From the "View" menu select "Show Names."

After you take these steps, iChat will display its chat windows very much as AIM on the Mac would do. As another poster says above, you are NOT stuck with the bubbles. iChat does have some user customizable options.
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Click to view pdrayton's profile Enthusiast
pdrayton
1,821 posts since
Sep 19, 2003
7. Jan 18, 2006 8:09 AM in response to: jmincey
Re: iChat vs AIM
I've grown to like the bubbles!

Adium really doesn't interest me because my contacts all use AIM/iChat. Plus, sticking with iChat means I know that it will work when I do an OS upgrade.

Adium does have lots of fans, though, especially due to it's compatibility with so many chat clients!
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Click to view lkalliance's profile Enthusiast
lkalliance
1,334 posts since
May 5, 2002
8. Jan 18, 2006 8:32 AM in response to: pdrayton
Re: iChat vs AIM
You know, it's funny, I now like the bubbles, too. For years I had them turned off, but a few months ago for some reason I decided to turn them on and I like them now. I think it's one of those kinds of things I'll turn on and off in stages just for some variety.

I used to use Adium, too, but since my workplace standardized on AIM and since I liked the iChat interface so much I just switched once Jaguar came out. As usual with Apple apps, I just find it so....smooth.
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Click to view d00d's profile Macworld Editorial
d00d
12,136 posts since
Apr 24, 2001
9. Jan 18, 2006 8:48 AM in response to: pdrayton
Re: iChat vs AIM
Adium really doesn't interest me because my contacts all use AIM/iChat.
All the services are starting to open up and converge anyway. Between Google basically announcing that AIM and Google Talk will be interoperable and opening Google Talk up to the rest of the Jabber world, the various services will slowly merge into one. Microsoft and Yahoo are prepping for a merge of their IM networks. I think it's only a matter of time before they open up to Jabber as well, creating one large IM network. Considering iChat already has Jabber as well, sticking with it will become natural.

Plus, sticking with iChat means I know that it will work when I do an OS upgrade.
Honestly, that's never been an issue for me with Adium.

Ultimately Adium wins out for me because:
1) iChat's handling of new message notification sucks. Between Adium's dock icon status notifications and built in Growl support, I have much better feel for who's messaging me and how important it is.
2) I hate having a window for each chat. This quickly becomes cumbersome and a tabbed chat window makes it much easier to handle.
3) iChat's interface leaves a lot to be desired. I feel like every interface element takes up twice as much space as it should. Its buddylist never quite worked for me (hard to verbalize). Adium has nearly infinite UI customization, so I can get exactly what I want.
4) iChat's logging is terrible. It has no built-in viewer and searching is a bear (Spotlight may have rectified this, I haven't checked).

That said, it's a very personal decision. However, if both a beautiful UI and customization are top priorities, Adium fits the bill.
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Click to view pdrayton's profile Enthusiast
pdrayton
1,821 posts since
Sep 19, 2003
10. Jan 18, 2006 8:56 AM in response to: d00d
Re: iChat vs AIM
Customization is important, as is the look of the interface, but my number one priority is video chat capability (and high quality video chats at that).

Does Adium have video chat? I've never even checked to see.
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Click to view johnd0e's profile Member
johnd0e
740 posts since
Mar 28, 2002
11. Jan 18, 2006 8:58 AM in response to: digidan
Re: iChat vs AIM
although I also like iChat, i mostly use (for plain text conversations) Fire.
Fire is quite nice, since it's one app for a whole lot of protocols (AIM, ICQ, IRC....) and screen space is valuable...

maybe you want to take a look at it.
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Click to view d00d's profile Macworld Editorial
d00d
12,136 posts since
Apr 24, 2001
12. Jan 18, 2006 9:05 AM in response to: pdrayton
Re: iChat vs AIM
Does Adium have video chat? I've never even checked to see.
Not yet. I think it's waiting on some kind of cross platform, cross IM network standard. Then again, I don't care that much because I'll fire up iChat if I want to vid chat.
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Click to view lkalliance's profile Enthusiast
lkalliance
1,334 posts since
May 5, 2002
13. Jan 18, 2006 9:30 AM in response to: d00d
Re: iChat vs AIM
I'm disappointed in the logging, too. Under Panther, I used a nice little shareware app called Logorrhea (I love that name), but since Tiger it no longer works for me -- I suppose that for Spotlight the chats are being stored in a different format.

Actually, let me amend that...Logorrhea does work, but it only searches chats that took place under Panther. I can search all those old chats; the new ones don't come up.

ADDENDUM: Just downloaded Logorrhea 1.3 (freeware) and it's now Tiger-compatible. Never mind.


FURTHER ADDENDUM: I'm just tickled pink that my 1,250th post contains the word "Logorrhea."
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Click to view pdrayton's profile Enthusiast
pdrayton
1,821 posts since
Sep 19, 2003
14. Jan 18, 2006 3:16 PM in response to: lkalliance
Re: iChat vs AIM
I was a big fan of Logorrhea, too!

I'll go download the new version!
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