Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Software, Internet, Internet Tools, Leopard
Apple Insider previews iChat 4.0
Apple Insider continues their series looking ahead to Leopard (boy, it's nice to know next Friday for sure, isn't it?) by previewing the new iChat, version 4.0.As with the Dock review they did last week, they first take a look at the history of iChat, but iChat actually got started fairly late in the world of instant messaging. Apple started it out by working with other protocols (one reason it's worked so well since then, I'd bet). iChat AV was the most significant update so far, adding videoconferencing that, thanks to the built-in iSights on most Macs nowadays, made the feature widespread.
To me, iChat 4.0's most exciting new feature is the document and screen sharing. Via VNC, both Mac and PC users have been able to share screens for a while, but the process has always been complicated (in most cases, so complicated that the problem you're actually trying to fix by screen sharing is less complicated than sharing screens itself). But iChat 4.0 is meant to make the process easy. There are also lots of fun video implementations-- including an "Obi-wan" setting I can't wait to try-- to go along with videoconferencing.
Day to day, I generally use Adium as an IM client (the look and configurability sells it for me), but the new features in iChat 4.0 will definitely tempt me to check them out, if not switch completely. Just 9 days left!
_thumbnail.jpg "Take a stroll down memory lane")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Dan said 8:06AM on 10-17-2007
I have never used iChat, and I've never seen a need to video-chat with anyone on the Internet. And even if I did, why the hell would I want to pretend I'm in Paris? Seriously, there are so many more useful things Apple developers can spend their time on than iChat. I wonder what percentage of Mac OS X users actually use video chat.
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Kev said 8:14AM on 10-17-2007
Apple should stop messing about with *** backgrounds and implement some MSN support along with some Voice to PSTN.
Editor: Please refrain from using 'gay' as a word of hate or disdain on TUAW.
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Ben said 8:35AM on 10-17-2007
Kev, that's extremely offensive. Take your homophobic attitude elsewhere please.
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matthew said 8:36AM on 10-17-2007
@1 - I use video chat sometimes, and I do have to say iChat is far smoother than Yahoo.
@2 - Despite being gay myself, I don't see the point of the Paris background. How are these gay backgrounds, exactly? :rolleyes:
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Brian said 8:40AM on 10-17-2007
Note that the video backgrounds will only work if you've got an Intel Core Duo system or better. A G5 won't cut it.
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Ian said 8:44AM on 10-17-2007
@Dan, I use video chat several times a week. It really helps nutt out problems with others remotely.
Personally, I wouldn't use iChat as I happily use Skype to chat with both Mac and PC users.
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Peter Gordon said 8:45AM on 10-17-2007
@3 and 4: When number to is talking about 'gay' backgrounds he is not referring to homosexual backgrounds. After all how can a background be homosexual?!! Gay has become a term used to describe something that is bad or annoying and can be taken to be completely independent from the word meaning homosexual (i.e. just because you use gay to describe bad and annoying things it does not mean you are homophobic and think homosexual people are bad or annoying). I do sympathise with the view that it is still best not to use the word to avoid misunderstanding or the homophobic connotations but it does not seem to me that it is extremely offensive to use it.
Anyway regarding the article I personally wish they would implement MSN support (since most people in Europe use MSN) but the new features do look good and screen sharing would be useful (if it worked over MSN!!!).
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Joid said 8:48AM on 10-17-2007
All R2D2-lovers can start sending their hate-mail to Cupertino, because according to Gizmodo the Star Wars hologram effect is not present anymore.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/apple-answers-leopard-questions-311345.php
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matthew said 8:55AM on 10-17-2007
@7 - Yes, I understand that. I was trying to gently point out that though "gay" is sometimes used to convey a negative or bad quality to something, it's inappropriate. Despite your feelings otherwise, plenty of people do find that usage to be inconsiderate or offensive, precisely because it does imply you "think homosexual people are bad or annoying". Though the word gay is not in itself a slur, this use of it is. I'm just making the polite request to avoid this usage comments, just as I'd hope comments would also exclude racial or religious slurs.
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Joid said 8:56AM on 10-17-2007
Unfortunatly Peter Gordon you're also a little mistaken. Czech this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay#Etymology
Anyway the 26th "We'll Have A Gay Old Time"
/fred
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Luigi193 said 9:04AM on 10-17-2007
Nope....No more starwars theme!!
There is a great fish tank though...
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Ben said 9:06AM on 10-17-2007
Unfortunately Peter Gordon's view on this issue is widely held. It's also wrong. As Matthew correctly points out, it's the use of the word rather than the word itself that's offensive.
Whether or not Kev intended to use the word offensively, he has nevertheless done so.
I'm all for freedom of speech, but would hope that homophobic, racist and otherwise ignorant and offensive comments could be kept of the pages of TUAW.
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Jason said 9:19AM on 10-17-2007
I use Skype to video chat with my parents every week. If I could get them to go over ot Mac, I'm sure we would use iChat.
My Mom recently got a cochlear implant, so it's the only way she can "hear" me and my fiance... reading our lips a little. Plus, it's great to see them since they're halfway across the country. ;)
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Ryan said 9:20AM on 10-17-2007
The talk about jabber quite a bit in the article, I hope jabber support is a little more solid and standard compliant in ver 4.
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Dan said 9:26AM on 10-17-2007
@6: Fair enough, I can see how video chat can be handy for some people, from time to time. It is the future we were promised in 1994, after all. But seriously - spending big chunks of developer time and money so your friends can say 'Wow! It looks just like you're on the moon LOL' instead of fixing useful things? *Sigh*...
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Joid said 9:30AM on 10-17-2007
No offense @ Ben, but what a BS. So because others could might interpretate a word or phrase wrongly, it shouldnt be used? Unbelieveable...
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KR said 9:31AM on 10-17-2007
I use iChat all the time. I'm in a long-distance relationship, so it helps to bridge the voice-only gap of the phone.
When I want to do video chat with my dad, I use Skype, as he's on a Dell. He's seriously considering making the switch to Mac though. If and when he does, the new screen and document sharing features will be great. I'll be able to guide him through OSX like I'm right there with him.
As for the Photobooth effects and replacement backgrounds, it's a novelty. Some will like it, some won't. If you don't like it, don't use it. Simple as that. But just because you don't see the use for something doesn't mean that others won't.
I'll probably play with it every now and again just for kicks. Why not?
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PSM said 9:38AM on 10-17-2007
I use video chat pretty much only with my parents. I don't get to see them very often so it helps with that "we haven't seen you in forever" feeling, plus it's cheaper than using the phone. Also, I can't wait to start using screen sharing whenever they call me to fix their computers. We've done VNC in the past, but as the post says, it's more trouble than it's worth.
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iMachias said 9:40AM on 10-17-2007
I used iChat for video chatting on a daily basis, as I have friends and family scattered all over the world and iChat let's me see them instead of just hear them on the telephone or read them in a text message.
I think the background implementation is a novel idea but not one that I see being used a lot. As far as the backgrounds being "gay", and the use of "gay" to denote something bad or annoying, I take offense to that because that would mean I am bad or annoying because I happen to be gay. Perhaps the gay community should just start addressing all heterosexual people as breeders and compare them to cows and other breeding stock.
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Ben said 9:41AM on 10-17-2007
Joid, read my and Matthew's comments again, you've missed the point.
It's not a question of the hearer or reader *interpreting* a word wrongly, it's a question of the speaker or writer *using* it wrongly.
Anyway, this is getting seriously off topic, and if people are too ignorant to know the difference, this isn't the right place to try and help them. I just wish I didn't have to read crap like Kev's comment in the first place.
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