On 9/28/10 9:08 AM, Jesse Thompson wrote:
> On 09/24/2010 07:14 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
>>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
>>> Of Jesse Thompson
>>>
>>> traffic. The actual voice/video capabilities depend on the client or
>>> device. e.g. Psi and Pidgin now have rudamentary p2p voice
>>> capabilities. No client compares to Skype that I'm aware of.
>>
>> Oh dear. You haven't used iChat. It's enormously better than skype as a
>> client. Only problem is the fact that it's Mac only.
>
> and that's a big problem. If the majority of your users can't run it, then
> it can immediately be
> ruled out.
[I know I'm jumping in late and there has been plenty of discussion already. I
have just one
point/distinction.]
On the other hand, a client is only a client. Any individual should be able to
use whatever client
works best for them on their platform as long as it interacts with others. I
routinely use iChat to
interact with a hardcore opensource guy who insists on using Jabber with
whatever the opensource
thing is that he uses as a client. The only problem I have is that his client
drops connections
somewhat frequently.
I also connect over AOL with iChat to people who are on PC's, smart phones
(that are not iPhones),
etc. My son uses skype and can connect with me when I'm using iChat. I can also
text a "dumb" phone
by supplying the fully qualified phone number and going through AOL.
So, the question is really about choosing a means of interacting that is
supported by a sufficient
spectrum of clients. Or for an individual to choose a client that is
sufficiently broad to connect
with whatever means of interacting you settle on. So far, iChat has done
everything I've wanted to
do and then some. My daughter has had smores parties (heated over a candle on
her desk) and pajama
movie parties with a friend who lives 2000 miles away, connecting from iChat
with an iSight to
whatever the friend was using on her PC. They could giggle together and talk
while watching the same
movie.
Assuming that everyone has to use the same client comes a bit too close to the
financial web sites
that insist you have to be using IE and then program stuff directly to IE so
that indeed I have to.
But I can't. Microsoft has not supported IE on Mac for many years and has never
supported it for Mac
OS X. So, I'm stuck using the kiosk at my Bank if/when I absolutely have to.
But that's not at all
what internet banking is supposed to be. It sucks.
--
---------------
Chris Hoogendyk
-
O__ ---- Systems Administrator
c/ /'_ --- Biology& Geology Departments
(*) \(*) -- 140 Morrill Science Center
~~~~~~~~~~ - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
<[email protected]>
---------------
Erdös 4
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