Let it be known -- I switched before it was hip to switch.
After suffering years and years of Mac envy, I finally bought an Apple iMac flat-panel unit earlier this year. I knew my Mac envy had reached a fevered pitch, too -- I ordered it the same as the domed iMacs were first announced at Macworld last January. Getting away from a PC in favor of a Mac has brought me peace and harmony. No more "blue screens of death." No more freezing of programs without absolutely no explanation.
Apple's OS X is a very simple-to-use operating system that looks nice on my new "floating" flat-panel iMac. All of the included software titles, especially iTunes, have made operating my new chrome-Apple-faced white dome of a computer a breeze -- especially compared to my old PC. (Actually, I haven't technically switched. I use a company-issued Wintel notebook for all of my work-related stuff. I also have to admit the Windows 2000 Professional OS that shipped with the unit has been pretty stable -- much more than the Windows 98-equipped HP Pavilion that completely died after just 2 years of use. Nonetheless, I now consider myself a full-fledged Mac user.)
With all of that in mind, I installed the newest version of OS X -- Jaguar. And since I cover the wild, sometimes wooly world of instant messaging, I was especially interested in the new iChat feature.
The advance hype on iChat was impressive. Apple promised an Aqua interface, the ability to quickly see and change online status, and quick menu bar access. The Mail application in Mac OS X shows online status of buddies, allowing users to instantly turn e-mail exchanges into real time chats. And, the new system-wide Address Book manages buddy information including name, handle and photo along with the rest of their contact information.
No more plain lines of text with iChat, either, as Apple said the client would have "dialogue bubbles" and buddy photos to present instant messages in a graphically conversational manner. iChat invitations pop on the screen in a simple and non-intrusive way using transparency and animation effects. Apple iChat users can even chat with other users on Ethernet or AirPort networks, as well as via Apple's Rendezvous networking.
Probably the most-talked about -- and best -- part of the iChat client is that it is fully interoperable with America Online's AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). That's important because the number of people Jaguar users can IM explodes with AIM integration -- AOL says AIM has more than 150 million registered users and counting. Apple even had AOL's blessing in developing the client.
iChat promised seamless instant messaging between .Mac members, AOL members and AIM users. Mac users can use their existing .Mac names with iChat or get a free .Mac name if they didn't already have one.
So after I got through the upgrade process -- a very easy one, by the way (much easier than I've had in the past with Windows upgrades) -- the first thing I did was to fire up iChat.
It delivered on everything it promised ... and more.
As compared to AIM, especially the beta of AIM 5.0, iChat doesn't have a lot of obvious flash. Consumers who like seeing scrolling stock tickers, the "AIM Today" window and so on, may want to consider sticking with AIM. For users like myself, though, a lack of eye candy is a good thing -- I've already disabled almost all of the flash-y aspects of AIM.
The beauty of iChat lies in the sleek Buddy List, which reminds me of a vertical iTunes. The icons, pictures and thought bubbles are nice to look at, and at the same time not distracting. The "photo" feature, which lets people use pictures or icons instead of the AIM "running dude" logo, seems to work well -- although few people I know actually have an icon that's different from ol' running dude. I've already got a logo from the InstantMessagingPlanet Web site set up as my photo. The actual process of making the graphic ended up being more difficult than putting it into the program, which only involved dragging the graphic into my Buddy List.
As with AOL's AIM, iChat's Buddy List doesn't need to be maximized to work. It can be minimized, with a dialog bubble that resides next to the day/date on the tool bar representing it. Clicking on the bubble brings up a list of stored "available" and "away" messages, along with all available buddies. One small but nice addition here is having the ability to display a short message while setting your status as "available" -- for example, you can display "I'm filing -- I'm available to chat, but give me a bit of time to answer."
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