Da Duck is Da Bomb

In recent entries (1 and 2), I have been ranting about Instant Messenging software for OSX, essentially complaining how us consumers need higher standards when it comes to cross-platform compliance. It makes no sense that those who choose to chat online need to have an account with every possible IM provider in order to stay in touch with all their friends.

On the Mac platform, iChat comes bundled with OSX. It is aesthetically pleasing, it provides seamless integration with other Apple applications, and has audio and video conferencing. There are caveats, though.

In order to use iChat, you must have either a .mac subscription ($100 US per year), AIM account, or a Jabber account. To use the video-conferencing features, you must purchase Apple's iSight ($150 US); other webcams will not work. If you or your friends chat using other services, then you are out of luck.

Adium has been created by OSX developers in order to have one client that would be compatible with all major instant-messenging platforms. It has been in beta development for a number of years, but more recently, more OSX users are flocking to Adium, as it is becoming a powerful, stable application.

The more I use Adium, the more nifty little features I discover. Mike Davidson wrote a wonderful article, citing the reasons why he loves the program. If you are considering trying Adium, I would recommend you read his article.

First of all, Adium is highly customizable. If you want it to look like and behave similar to the IM program you most frequently use, someone has likely written a patch. There are literally hundreds of skins, icon sets, and sound packages available for download. At this time, I have Adium configured to closely resemble iChat's interface.

Are you tired of having twenty IM windows open at a time? Adium has integrated tabs, so you only need to have one window open. These behave identical to tabbed web browsing, which keeps your desktop much, much cleaner.

If your buddies are chat junkies, and every one of them has numerous online identities, you know what a pain in the rear it is when one of them are logged onto five separate accounts -- and every one of them shows up in your buddy list. Adium has been ingenious, allowing the user to combine identities -- and it's as simple as dragging and dropping one contact on top of the other. I have just reduced my contact list to about half of its' original size.

If you miss iChat's integration with Address Book, fear not. Adium will sort through your contact list and add buddies automatically, if you so choose. The integration is not entirely seamless, but it's well on its' way.

Even though Adium has many excellent features, it does have weaknesses. Many users complain that the file-transfer protocols are buggy. I am confident that these will be addressed in due time.

What I consider to be the biggest weakness of Adium is no support for audio or video conferencing. I sincerely hope these issues will be addressed, perhaps after the release of version 1.0. I can wait for voice and video chat; I really don't have need for them anyway.

It also buys me time to save up for an iSight, which I have some doubts I would use anyway.