As Leopard’s release date approaches, let’s take this opportunity to give the award for the worst Tiger OS X Application to iChat, the little app that could, but won’t.
iChat, The Little App That Could
iChat, in theory, could be far superior to other chat apps. iChat is undoubtedly the sleekest and sexiest looking of chat applications around and we really wouldn’t expect anything less from Apple.
The problem with those sleek and sexy promo pictures of the multiple participant video conferencing interfaces in full screen mode using your cute pre-loaded iSight is that this will never work for 99% of OS X users. For the mass of OS X users, iChat sits in the dock forever never getting to jump up and down like its other cute friends sitting next to it.
Why? Because iChat doesn’t chat with the majority of the rest of the world. If both you and your chat buddies or perspective business video conference clients don’t have a .Mac account, AIM or Jabber account, you can’t chat with iChat. Sure you can get any one of these types of accounts and make your iChat work flawlessly. But is that why you bought your Mac, to go hunting for ways to make stuff work?
iChat flies in the face of the “It Just Works” mantra.
Getting iChat To Work
Let’s see, .Mac account . . . give or take $100 per year. Methinks most happy Windows converts are saying no thanks, I just spent 2 or 3k on my computer and Apple wants me to pay an extra $100 a year for a separate account? .Mac insanity is a different story all together so we’ll leave that for another day.
AIM . . . AIM? AOL Instant Messenger? Are you kidding? You might be saying “I didn’t know they still had that!” They still have it. Anything AOL should have died out years ago when we all sold our shares at $90 (hopefully).
How about Jabber? Most of you are probably asking what is Jabber? In a nutshell, Jabber is a chat service that requires an account with a Jabber server. Jabber accounts are usually free, but often difficult to locate and configure.
For example, Google search for a tutorial about how to establish a Jabber account for iChat using “ichat jabber yahoo“. The first search result offers a tutorial, legitimate as it is, that will lead you to establish a Jabber account on a server in the Czech Republic so that you can eventually communicate via iChat.
I’m serious about this. If you want to use iChat to communicate with Yahoo or MSN chat users via Jabber, you might end up having to store your Yahoo login and password on a server in the former Soviet Block.
Does that happy Mac user on the commercials want to admit iChat may require accounts on servers in foreign countries to enable the great features behind iChat?
Before the Jabber lovers slam us, sure, you can find Jabber servers elsewhere and some make you feel less dirty about leaving your Yahoo login and password on an unknown server. If you have a hosted website, you may even be able to enable Jabber to use as a part of your hosting package. This discussion is not about Jabber which actually works. Its about iChat, which doesn’t work very easily. Please direct your anger to iChat, not Buzz Droid.
The tutorial is a great tutorial, I had to use it myself and it works, but as the tutorial indicates, if you want to chat with MSN or Yahoo using iChat, you have to
- Download an additional app (Jabber client, iChat won’t help you setup a Jabber account)
- Open a Jabber account on a Jabber server
- Register your chat accounts with Jabber (storing logins and passwords with Jabber)
- Format Jabber screen names and add them to your Address Book
- And then, finally, setup iChat to use Jabber
Each one of those steps have several sub-parts that I didn’t mention. Mac guy sure as hell doesn’t tell you this on any commercial.
One thing’s for sure, you’re not getting iChat to work with your family and friends on Yahoo, MSN Messenger or anything else for that matter right of the box unless they are on a local network with another Mac using iChat or you have one of the three types of accounts already mentioned. Ain’t no way, ain’t no how.
Alternatives To iChat
Compare the intense process outlined above to get iChat working for Yahoo users with simply downloading Yahoo Messenger. It’s a no brainer. With Yahoo Messenger, download and you’re done. You will have to suffer through the ads but the app works and works quickly. The Yahoo information integration deluge of options can be over stimulating but at least you can chat with other Yahoo users on your Mac using Yahoo Messenger for Mac.
Adium is perhaps the best bet for any Mac OS X user who wants to chat with virtually anybody - Yahoo, Jabber, and MSN included. Adium is an open source alternative to iChat that basically offers everything iChat should. Adium has just been released as Version 1.0 and is a legitimate replacement for iChat in virtually every way.
Linux has a number of apps that support multiple chat protocols. A number of the linux apps allow you to communicate with other IM service chat users including Yahoo. Ekiga, Gyache, GAIM and Kopete to name a few will work, although you may have some video chat issues.
The inability of iChat to work with other services out of the box is ridiculous and a disservice to OS X users. Other chat apps are able to interface with Yahoo and MSN, why not iChat?
Jaryd wrote,
I don’t think you covered the option to use a gmail account. While I can’t chat with MSN or Yahoo!, I could always just use MSN or Yahoo!. It’s like complaining when using MSN that I can’t chat with people on AIM. Well, of course not, it’s MSN. iChat can’t do everything, but I find the things it does do very well.
Quote | Link | June 26th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Tommy wrote,
@Jaryd - I think iChat could’ve been great. My point is more that if Apple ships an app, it should work out of the box. iChat will not work out of the box for most people. I don’t consider having to sign up for a Jabber account as “working out of the box”. I also think you are pretty much on a virtual chat island by yourself if you use iChat because you can only chat with Jabber, .Mac or AIM.
It will be interesting to see what improvements Apple makes to iChat when Leopard ships. Something has to be done to make it easier to integrate with other chat apps or people might as well just use something else, for instance as you indicated - gmail, or my current preference Skype.
Quote | Link | June 26th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Albert wrote,
To be honest, I think that iChat should just support SIP, as SIP would make things easier for all of us. Perhaps Apple could simply support WengoPhone, and help people join it?
Quote | Link | July 23rd, 2007 at 4:48 pm
DistortedLoop wrote,
FYI - Yahoo Messenger 3.02 doesn’t work in Leopard’s latest beta. Crashes on open, every time.
Quote | Link | October 17th, 2007 at 4:51 am
One Savvy Goat wrote,
Seriously? You are complaining about very trivial bits. So an application cannot
do what you want it to. So you use another application to do it. That is pretty straight forward. iChat works with AIM, sure, and Jabber, etc, etc, etc, But why do feel it is such a
travesty? That is like saying ok… I had a Sega Genesis, and newer video game consoles came out after it. It works with what it is meant to work with. Nobody is going say, “Hey, my Nintendo Wii or XBox 360 is more powerful that that, and it runs games, so buy default since say “Sonic the Hedgehog” is a game of older or different compatiability I should be able to plug my Genesis cartridge into any no modern console and it should run, no matter what, no mattter, what is designed for, no matter why it operates the way it does…..” Etc, and don’t give me bull shit, like well a better processor can emulate such a game (or service).” It would be ridiculous to assume it just could because it is newer.
Yahoo messenger didn’t work on Leopard’s Beta? It is a Beta…. obviously they have fixed that otherwise I wouldn’t have to put up with Yahoo! Client. A Beta OS still has some things to work out, right? You can feed baby food to an adult and an adult could consume it. That doesn’t mean it is working the way it should to gave an adult the nutrition needed, however, while still the baby might not be able to process more complexed baby food just yet with their imunesystem. Do you see the metaphor here?
Just because one application has standards that are not coincidal with it’s peer’s doesn’t mean that it is inferor…..
etc, etc, etc,
.
Quote | Link | May 8th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Wardski Gics wrote,
I have a Tiger OS in my Mac iBook G4. i installed Yahoo messenger 3.00 and even if i click the yahoo messenger smiley icon, it just bounces once then it stops. Therefore, i cannot open ym. Is ym 3.00 compatible with my OS?
Quote | Link | September 17th, 2009 at 7:59 pm