Just a Nutter Blog :: Will Leopard's iChat Finally Stack Up to Adium?

and integration to switch to iChat. Apple has adopted a number of Adium features in the new iChat. Notable are:

Tabbed Chats
Persistent Chat Windows
Global Shortcut (when pressed, brings chat client to front)
File Transfer Window, with the ability to open files
Invisibility
Clear Transcript
Animated Buddy Icons
New Emoticons

iChat will also gain a few features that aren't present in Adium, some of which are more style than substance, but a few which could deciding features, including:

The ability to create alerts when someone mentions your name or a keyword in a chat
"Compact view shrinks the text and buddy icon so you can see more text in your chat window"
sms forwarding
Customize buddy list order
Applescript Alerts

While these may be minor changes, iChat's support for video and audio as well as the new features related to these avenues may be what finally pushes it ahead of Adium. Let's take a look at some of the more significant features:

Screen Sharing

Screen sharing tops my list as being the most significant addition to iChat. This can be accomplished using a hodgepodge of remote desktop apps and chat clients, but the fact that Apple has it all bundled into iChat is quite significant. This means that people can now collaborate on a project, or provide each other with technical support, with the ease of clicking a button (provided both sides have Macs and a broadband connection). Because iChat supports audio conferencing, this collaboration can go quite smoothly.

iChat Theater

With Show Off, chatters will be able to display a keynote presentation, slideshow, movies, and other forms of media for each other while maintaining the video conference. Gone are the days when the family would need to cram into one room to view slides on Gramps dusty old projector. I suspect people will even use this feature to watch TV shows with long distance friends.

Video Backgrounds

This feature seems gimmicky at first glance, but I can see people getting very creative with this. Cheating on a spouse? This is the perfect way to fool them into thinking you're hard at work on that business proposal rather than at the local motel. Been lying to your friends about your exotic life as a cavern spelunker - iChat will help keep the lie alive.

Video/Audio Recording

This feature has a lot of potential in the areas of work and collaboration, as well in web 2.0 media like podcasts. Imagine being able to interview people without expensive video and audio equipment for your podcast. This could be the most significant addition to iChat in terms of user generated content. The big downside for iChat has always been its compatibility with chat services. As it stands, iChat will support a whopping 4: AIM, Google Talk, dotMac, and Jabber. Adium supports AIM, Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous), Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, LiveJournal, Lotus, Sametime, dotMac, MySpaceIM, Novell GroupWise, QQ, SIP / SIMPLE, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Japan, and Zephyr - fully 17 different chat protocols. In other words, if it chats, Adium supports it. This lack of compatibility on Apple's iChat's part will most likely continue to be a deal breaker for most people. However, because of the sheer magnitude of the new features included in Leopard's iChat I suspect most people will run it along side Adium as their audio and video conferencing solutions. Customizability has never been Apple software's strong suit either, and this could also be a deal-breaker for many.