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Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

pidgin.im

61–70 of 461 posts

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#61

Considering this is open source (which I'm assuming includes the plugins), wouldn't this be a much better alternative to the native apps on mobile? Curious as to why this hasn't been ported to Android/iOS. I'd much prefer this over apps that need permission to my blood type to function. Pidgin was great back in the day for convenience, but there is a legitimate argument to be made for privacy here too. EDIT: It just…

It still works great on the Nokia N900!

https://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/UsingPidgin/N900

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#62
post #49

Does nobody remember Pidgin? It was one of the first things a lot of people installed on their machines 15 years ago along with Firefox. We used it as an alternative client to AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. It used to be called GAIM.

I had a real Obi Wan Kenobi moment when I saw this at the top of hackernews.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#63
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if this has changed, but at least on why it's not on iOS [1]: > In a nutshell, the Apple Developer Agreement is the biggest "problem" preventing a Pidgin build for iOS devices. We won't quote the exact text here, but the Agreement requires that developers allow Apple to impose additional restrictions on applications above and beyond the application's own license. Among these additional restrictions are the w…

With such a commitment to free software, isn't it a bit ironic they ported it to Windows?

No, it's not ironic. Windows imposes no such limitation on developers. Microsoft certainly doesn't assume exclusive rights to distribution of every piece of software that can be installed on Windows.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#64
post #49

Does nobody remember Pidgin? It was one of the first things a lot of people installed on their machines 15 years ago along with Firefox. We used it as an alternative client to AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. It used to be called GAIM.

I still have my .purple backup. It even had a Steam plugin I recall which was great since Steam itself didn't have chat logs.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#65
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if this has changed, but at least on why it's not on iOS [1]: > In a nutshell, the Apple Developer Agreement is the biggest "problem" preventing a Pidgin build for iOS devices. We won't quote the exact text here, but the Agreement requires that developers allow Apple to impose additional restrictions on applications above and beyond the application's own license. Among these additional restrictions are the w…

> the well-known "5-device limit" Sorry, but I'm not familiar with this – could you share more please?

I can find no information about what limit they’re claiming. You can use a maximum of 5 different Apple ID simultaneously on a device but that’s pretty obscure.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#66

Considering this is open source (which I'm assuming includes the plugins), wouldn't this be a much better alternative to the native apps on mobile? Curious as to why this hasn't been ported to Android/iOS. I'd much prefer this over apps that need permission to my blood type to function. Pidgin was great back in the day for convenience, but there is a legitimate argument to be made for privacy here too. EDIT: It just…

Not sure if this has changed, but at least on why it's not on iOS [1]: > In a nutshell, the Apple Developer Agreement is the biggest "problem" preventing a Pidgin build for iOS devices. We won't quote the exact text here, but the Agreement requires that developers allow Apple to impose additional restrictions on applications above and beyond the application's own license. Among these additional restrictions are the w…

I don't understand the logic where releasing something under GPL + a restrictive license is considered worse than releasing under GPL only.

What is lost when they make Pidgin available on the App Store (under the restrictive App Store license) + under GPL (on their website) as opposed to not having an App Store version in the first place and releasing under the GPL only?

I don't see how the presence of a second, more restrictive license invalidates the GPL given that anyone willing to take advantage of something not allowed under the more restrictive license can still do so under GPL?

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#67
post #59
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the well-known "5-device limit" Sorry, but I'm not familiar with this – could you share more please?

https://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+Developer+Agreement+5+... TIL it's now 10 devices...

Why would that ever be a consideration?

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#68
Still using it as my Hangouts client via ye-olde GTalk plugin, even though I thought Google had stopped supporting it.

I've debated several times switching over to the purple-hangouts plugin so that I can get proper groupchat support, but the last time I tried it wanted me to do some shady-looking stuff with signing into Google and using the Developer Tools to grab the authentication key.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#69
post #43

It would be cool if they had compiled mac binaries available on their downloads page. They instead recommend Adium, which hasn't had a commit on master in five years.

It's on homebrew, so you might try that. As a linux dude stuck on mac at work it's my go to for installing things.

  brew install pidgin
https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/pidgin

On pidgin, I used to use it and have been considering using it again, but right now I lean more towards WeeChat because I like having the ability to CLI it off a vps but I guess I could proxy my pidgin stuff too which is half of the reason I like doing that. (friends don't let friends irc from home, especially without cloaks!)

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#70
post #37

Why do 3 people mentioning in the comments that the main dev is streaming on Twitch with link to the channel? Seems suspicious Like literally nothing to add just "the main maintainer livestreams his work on pidgin on twitch" "One of the main developers of pidgin streams on twitch" Edit: of course I got downvoted when I pointed this out. Astroturfing is prevalent on HN as well.

Because it's an old project and a lot of people, myself included, are surprised to find out the devs are still working on it.
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