Waiting for the other iChat shoe to drop
Leopard brings big improvements to most applications in Mac OS X, including 13 new features in Safari and 15 in Mail. But iChat gets the most love with 24 new features:
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Photo Booth Effects Backdrop Effects Screen Sharing New Message Views Custom Buddy List Order Disable Alerts AppleScript Alert Recording |
Multiple Logins Invisibility AAC-LD Codec Animated Buddy Icons Persistent Chat Windows iChat Theater More Smileys Watch for My Name… |
Clear Transcript SMS Forwarding Tabbed Chat File Transfer Manager Hide Local Video iChat Hot Key Auto-Start iChat Set Default IM Application |
Some of these showcase Apple’s new technology:
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Photo Booth Effects Backdrop Effects Screen Sharing New Message Views Custom Buddy List Order Disable Alerts AppleScript Alert Recording |
Multiple Logins Invisibility AAC-LD Codec Animated Buddy Icons Persistent Chat Windows iChat Theater More Smileys Watch for My Name… |
Clear Transcript SMS Forwarding Tabbed Chat File Transfer Manager Hide Local Video iChat Hot Key Auto-Start iChat Set Default IM Application |
Others show Apple playing catch-up:
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Photo Booth Effects Backdrop Effects Screen Sharing New Message Views Custom Buddy List Order Disable Alerts AppleScript Alert Recording |
Multiple Logins Invisibility AAC-LD Codec Animated Buddy Icons Persistent Chat Windows iChat Theater More Smileys Watch for My Name… |
Clear Transcript SMS Forwarding Tabbed Chat File Transfer Manager Hide Local Video iChat Hot Key Auto-Start iChat Set Default IM Application |
But what about those last two?
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Photo Booth Effects Backdrop Effects Screen Sharing New Message Views Custom Buddy List Order Disable Alerts AppleScript Alert Recording |
Multiple Logins Invisibility AAC-LD Codec Animated Buddy Icons Persistent Chat Windows iChat Theater More Smileys Watch for My Name… |
Clear Transcript SMS Forwarding Tabbed Chat File Transfer Manager Hide Local Video iChat Hot Key Auto-Start iChat Set Default IM Application |
According to Apple, iChat Hot Key lets you “bring your iChat window to the front anytime with a dedicated keyboard shortcut”, while Set Default IM Application lets you “set your default instant messaging application from within iChat”.
At first glance, both seem intended for heavy use. But what if they’re positioned for new uses? The only reason you’d need a default IM application now is if someone clicked your IM address, perhaps in Address Book. You’d be unlikely to do that on your desktop machine—but you might on your iPhone or iPod touch, if they included iChat. And you might if you could access iChat from your AppleTV.
Take a look at that list of new features again. iChat has the most new features of any application in Leopard. That’s extraordinary. The decision to devote that much engineering effort to iChat must have been based on something more than a desire to woo young IM-using buyers, especially since those young buyers already have access to other excellent IM clients.
The deep improvements to iChat in Leopard may show that Apple is shaping a new communication medium, something more than the IM and VoIP chats we have now. Perhaps something related to a secret iChat hardware feature in Leopard.
The ‘dedfault IM app’ option currently does have a use, and its not soo useful…
Mail has a button in its header to chat with the person who sent you the email. So that preference controls what app gets launched when you hit that button, sorry, nothing super special about that.
Well other than the fact that the button is now useful for those of us who don’t use iChat.
Don’t forget that iChat icons are included in AppleTV’s OS, too. http://www.awkwardtv.org/virgin-filelist.txt