Mac users long ago discovered the incredible power of Adium, the open-source, multiprotocol instant-messaging application for the Mac. The next time someone suggests that open source can't innovate, is not user-friendly, etc., point them to Adium. It's simply incredible.
What Adium isn't, however, is a good Twitter client. That's about to change, starting with Adium's next version (1.4), when sophisticated Twitter functionality will be integrated into Adium.
Sure, it has been possible to integrate Adium with Twitter with things like TwitterAdium, but those have involved a little more heavy lifting than most users want to give to their desktop applications.
Now, as Adium has announced, this leading instant-messaging client is about to get serious Twitter integration, which is no mean feat, considering that Twitter shut down IM access in 2008 and has no announced plans to resurrect it.
The integration is accomplished using Matt Gemmell's MGTwitterEngine, a library used to communicate with the Twitter API. While the service won't initially be as full-featured as, say, TweetDeck, it sounds like a great first attempt at replicating the basic Twitter functionality in an IM client. Full details on how it will work are on the Adium blog.
Here's what the service is expected to look like. I can't wait. Much of my day is spent in both Twitter and Adium. Now I may simply spend time in Adium. You can follow me on Twitter at mjasay.
Adium gets Twitter integration in 1.4
(Credit: Adium)AOL is getting a lot of credit for "opening" its ubiquitous AIM instant-messaging software "to open source." However, like Microsoft did recently by revealing documentation to its APIs and protocols, all AOL has done here is open access to OSCAR protocols necessary to create open-source implementations.
This is great, but consider just how much more AOL could have done--and for its benefit--such as open-sourcing its instant-messaging server and client software.
Think about it. What revenue does AOL protect by keeping its IM software closed? Sure, there's advertising revenue from the obnoxious ads it sprays around the client, but that is thinking far too small.
The real money is in abundance. Or in "adoption-led markets," to borrow Sun Microsystems' nomenclature.
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You've got to hand it to Microsoft. The company knows how to go against the grain. Just at the moment that the rest of the planet has discovered that there is huge value in opening up, Microsoft has been stalking the web, demanding payment from startups that want to allow users to import their MSN contact lists to other web services, as Fortune notes.
Here's the "deal":
If the company wants to offer other IM services (from Yahoo, Google or AOL, say), Messenger must get top billing. And if the startup wants to offer any other IM service, it must pay Microsoft 25 cents a user per year for a site license.
However, if a company wants to force its users to abandon 73% of their friends (assuming it's roughly a three-way race between AIM (53 million active users), MSN (27 million active users), and Yahoo! (22 million active users), then they can use MSN for free! Wow! Dave Rosenberg calls this "bizarre and stupid." I think he's being overly generous.
... Read moreValleywag largely pans it, while Webware thinks it has promise.
Regardless, the central premise of Yahoo's upcoming universal-messaging application dubbed MyM is clear. According to Webware, MyM:
...appears to be joining several Web services together. Included are instant messaging clients like AIM and MSN, along with social services like MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal, and Friendster.
I like it. For one thing, I get tired of scattering my IM activities--and my company largely works over IM--among different chat programs. That's why I use Adium. But given the promise of also connecting social-networking services with IM, I become much more interested in what Yahoo is up to.
After all, isn't the point of social-networking sites like Facebook.com to connect people? If so, is the best way to connect people really to have them "superpoking" each other all day? I'd rather be able to actually chat with them.
... Read moreMacworld reports that Trillian is heading to the Mac, after being doomed to a Windows existence for many years. I'm not sure how welcome it is since Adium already fills that role (multi-protocol chat client) for OS X, but if it can give Adium a little competition, all the better.
It's still in the early stage of development, but I'll give it a spin when it comes out, and let you know whether it's worth a download.
Given all the great consumer-facing open-source software available, I figured that I'd try to evaluate and write reviews on those I use most often. Open source long ago stopped being about developers for other developers. Here's proof.
Adium is quite simply the best instant-messaging (IM) client available. Period. It has its flaws and is, in some ways, deficient compared to iChat, Apple's own IM client. But its strengths vastly outnumber its weaknesses. I've been using it for years. In some ways, it's very similar to Trillian on the Windows platform in that it allows you to combine nearly all of your IM services (Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Jabber, etc.) into one client.
But Adium actually goes further and provides more.
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