Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client • Hacker News Board

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#181

Post by Macha » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

uluyol wrote: post #160

smt88 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Talk* There was no product named Google Chat until recently.

What about the precursor to Google talk? You know, chat integrated into Gmail before it was branded Google Talk. I thought it was Google Chat.

It was released as a standalone app in 2006 (after having a labs beta period prior) as Google Talk, and integrated into Gmail in 2007. While the widget in Gmail (which was only removed very recently to replace it with a Meet widget!) was labelled Chats, the service itself never was.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#182

Post by mseidl » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

jdlyga wrote: 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 used pidgin along time ago when I was using aim/msn/yahoo.

It's been a REALLY long time.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#183

Post by Gualdrapo » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #143

m-p-3 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good old time, when Google used XMPP..

Does it not still do so? I'm fairly certain that I'm using Pidgin 's XMPP functionality to communicate with others that are receiving their end in Google Hangouts .

Me too, right now using pidgin to communicate with coworkers via Hangouts. Tried everything to set it up with KDE Telepathy (I know, I know - it's just my personal account is still working with it) to no avail.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#184

Post by canistr » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

jdlyga wrote: 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.

Using Pidgin with OTR was the way to go for private chats. shrug

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#185

Post by Gualdrapo » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 5:59 PM UTC

buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #156

mindcrime wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember it? I use it every day. I assumed pretty much everybody else does too. shrug That said, it is annoying how so many chat services have gone out of their way to break the ability of 3rd party clients like Pidgin to work. :-(

You assumed pretty much everyone used a desktop specific chat app that is 20 years old?

And you assumed everyone who wanted a desktop chat app used pidgin and nothing else? Because there were plenty of "multi-service" apps. It's just that Pidgin was the more popular among Linux users.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#186

Post by ravenstine » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 5:59 PM UTC

krisgenre wrote: post #95

Ah! the glorious days of integrated chat clients. I had friends of MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, GTalk and for a very limited time ICQ (Actually it was the same guys on all networks :) ). There weren't any network effort, people were willing to try out different IMs for their uniqueness. Lots of companies were trying to produce integrated chat clients - Pidgin, Meebo, Trillian, Digsby and a whole lot of guys on Mob…

> When I was freelancing one guy asked me to clone meebo for $500 .. and I accepted :facepalm.

We've all said yes to those kinds of deals at least once. I once did a website for a company full-stack from setting up the backend to design and frontend JS for ~$600. I wasn't as experienced so I didn't value my work as much as I should have.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#187

Post by theltrj » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 6:04 PM UTC

Pidgin? What year is it again? Glad to see it still around.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#188

Post by CrankyBear » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

I used to use Pidgin all the time. But, as the years went by, it supported fewer and fewer of the IM services and protocols I used so I finally bid it adieu.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#189

Post by CodeGlitch » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

finiteseries wrote: post #105

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does not everyone still use it? I and most of my friends do. They are also responsible for my favorite bug report ever: https://bugs.gentoo.org/35890

Mate, the general population increasingly don’t even use desktops or laptops for personal usage anymore let alone a desktop OS specific IM client from the early 2000s.

I would suggest they never knew how to use computers. Computers are general purpose devices, which is lost on the general population who only ever need to check emails and post on social media. Smart phones fit this perfectly.

Let's leave the general computing devices for people who actually need that power, just like the early days.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#190

Post by jcelerier » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 6:09 PM UTC

buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #156

mindcrime wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember it? I use it every day. I assumed pretty much everybody else does too. shrug That said, it is annoying how so many chat services have gone out of their way to break the ability of 3rd party clients like Pidgin to work. :-(

You assumed pretty much everyone used a desktop specific chat app that is 20 years old?

i mean, I'm typing this message from Firefox which has pretty much a direct lineage to Netscape (1994), on an OS from 1991, using an instruction set which mostly comes from the 1970s