Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#1

Post by thunderbong » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client
pidgin.im

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#2

Post by valbaca » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 4:49 PM UTC

oh pidgin. Throughout my life (as a millennial) chat went this way:

1. IRC

2. IRC, Yahoo messenger, Aol Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger (mostly based on your ISP in the early days)

3. All + Skype (video!! wow!) + Google messenger. *This was when pidgin was invaluable* (there was also some Duck app for macOS?)

4. Skype started charging and since everyone was on Facebook, everyone moved to Facebook messenger. Text messages also became free, so for instant comms you just texted people.

5. Slowly FB Messenger took precedence over even text messages as data plans became better

6. A decade passes...

7. The exodus off of Facebook begins and Discord takes over as a way to talk to your group of friends.

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#3

Post by sidpatil » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 4:55 PM UTC

valbaca wrote: post #2

oh pidgin. Throughout my life (as a millennial) chat went this way: 1. IRC 2. IRC, Yahoo messenger, Aol Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger (mostly based on your ISP in the early days) 3. All + Skype (video!! wow!) + Google messenger. *This was when pidgin was invaluable* (there was also some Duck app for macOS?) 4. Skype started charging and since everyone was on Facebook, everyone moved to Facebook messenger. Text mes…

> (there was also some Duck app for macOS?)

I believe you're referring to Adium [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adium

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#4

Post by pacbard » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 4:56 PM UTC

valbaca wrote: post #2

oh pidgin. Throughout my life (as a millennial) chat went this way: 1. IRC 2. IRC, Yahoo messenger, Aol Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger (mostly based on your ISP in the early days) 3. All + Skype (video!! wow!) + Google messenger. *This was when pidgin was invaluable* (there was also some Duck app for macOS?) 4. Skype started charging and since everyone was on Facebook, everyone moved to Facebook messenger. Text mes…

> there was also some Duck app for macOS?

You are thinking of Adium (https://adium.im). I believe it was a port of pidgin/libpurple to cocoa/aqua (or whatever the macOS gui framework was back then).

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#5

Post by mattwad » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 5:01 PM UTC

valbaca wrote: post #2

oh pidgin. Throughout my life (as a millennial) chat went this way: 1. IRC 2. IRC, Yahoo messenger, Aol Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger (mostly based on your ISP in the early days) 3. All + Skype (video!! wow!) + Google messenger. *This was when pidgin was invaluable* (there was also some Duck app for macOS?) 4. Skype started charging and since everyone was on Facebook, everyone moved to Facebook messenger. Text mes…

What no ICQ? I got off the train before FB Messenger, personally. I don't think it was 'required' to have an app anymore once texting became free. And now everyone's on iMessage, except for Android users like me.

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#6

Post by klvino » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 5:02 PM UTC

valbaca wrote: post #2

oh pidgin. Throughout my life (as a millennial) chat went this way: 1. IRC 2. IRC, Yahoo messenger, Aol Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger (mostly based on your ISP in the early days) 3. All + Skype (video!! wow!) + Google messenger. *This was when pidgin was invaluable* (there was also some Duck app for macOS?) 4. Skype started charging and since everyone was on Facebook, everyone moved to Facebook messenger. Text mes…

Would probably include ICQ in the list for #2

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#7

Post by mdasen » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 5:03 PM UTC

I really miss Adium (https://adium.im) which was based on Pidgin's libpurple. Adium had such a great user experience. It was built with native widgets and also incorporated chat themes that were implemented using WebKit's rendering (https://www.adiumxtras.com/index.php?a=search&cat_id=5&sort=...). It was fast and memory friendly given that it was a native app and the themes were just small templates offering a different rendering style (rather than the entire app being a huge JS/HTML/CSS React app).

There were add-ons for message styles, contact list styles, dock icons, sounds, and more.

It's really sad that we've lost the ability to connect to so many of the services we use with third party clients. Instead, I now have FB Messenger, WhatsApp, iMessage, Discord, and Signal all running and taking up space in my dock.

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#8

Post by ValtteriL » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 5:09 PM UTC

Pidgin has been a trusty XMPP client. Staff at one of my previous employers used it for IRC.

Interestingly, some actors are willing to buy exploits against Pidgin users for sums higher than what the authors have made out of it.[0]

[0] https://therecord.media/zerodium-acquiring-zero-days-in-pidg...

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#9

Post by somethingsome » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 5:20 PM UTC

The plugin to connect Pidgin and Meta/Facebook messenger is dying. I think Pidgin may lose a lot of users if this in not solved.

If someone want to help them :

- https://github.com/dequis/purple-facebook/issues/526

- https://github.com/dequis/purple-facebook/issues/518

Re: Pidgin: The Universal Chat Client

#10

Post by Melatonic » Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 5:22 PM UTC

valbaca wrote: post #2

oh pidgin. Throughout my life (as a millennial) chat went this way: 1. IRC 2. IRC, Yahoo messenger, Aol Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger (mostly based on your ISP in the early days) 3. All + Skype (video!! wow!) + Google messenger. *This was when pidgin was invaluable* (there was also some Duck app for macOS?) 4. Skype started charging and since everyone was on Facebook, everyone moved to Facebook messenger. Text mes…

Don't forget Trillian!