http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/11705/
(If you'd like to give it a try, don't use the old version in the Hardy repos, look here: http://cass.no-ip.com/~cassidy/blog/index.php/post/2008/04/14/Voice-and-video-calls-with-Empathy )

The fact that Empathy uses Telepathy to manage all the different protocols it supports is what makes it so great. Why is it that Pidgin supports file transfers on AIM but not Jabber? Why can't i use VoIP to talk to my Google Talk friends in Pidgin?

Empathy will enable more desktop integration, better support for multiple protocols, and a happier user :)

The bottom line is that Empathy has been making much more progress and improving much faster than Pidgin thanks to Telepathy and including it in Ubuntu will only help the process along!

Major Update! Empathy is now part of Gnome-- http://blog.ibeentoubuntu.com/2008/08/gnome-has-empathy-for-you.html

[233 votes] Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #11705


[54 votes] Solution #2: Wait until Empathy is actually ready before replacing anything


[15 votes] Solution #3: Wait until Empathy supports OTR encryption


[-10 votes] Solution #4: Wait until Empathy support Social Networks and Microblogging


]]> en-us Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:50:54 +0000 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:53:12 +0000 QAPoll module http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/11705/
Changing the default IM client isn't something that's to be taken lightly - completely different interface, people have to set it up again, etc. ]]> Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:37:27 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:50:21 +0000 ...not just software in general haha]]> Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:50:52 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:57:10 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:33:01 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:11:52 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:49:41 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:56:08 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:03:48 +0000 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:08:43 +0000 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:52:20 +0000
"The biggest problem with Empathy is the licensing. Gossip is GPL, and putting that code into a library makes the library GPL. Gnome doesn't like GPLed libraries. They want LGPL. The corporate developers of Gossip don't want Empathy to be relicensed. Am I moving too fast for you? No? Good. Anyway, Empathy is at an impass. It has great potential, but it can't get through the relicensing situation without rewriting most of its code. I don't see it happening ... again.

The next big problem is API documentation. There is none. The developer admits this. He has a library with an undocumented API. It doesn't look good. Gnome will not take this project if the documentation doesn't at least move in the right direction."
http://blog.ibeentoubuntu.com/2008/05/and-runner-up-is-gnome-224-maybe-apps.html

I've WANTED Empathy to work for a long time because having Telepathy everywhere in Gnome would be a killer feature, but I think we should put our money on something else.
]]> Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:06:28 +0000 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:34:14 +0000 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:36:15 +0000
not to mention that empathy doesnt natively support a lot of protocols, and it just ends up using libpurple for the majority of them. If we are just going to be using libpurple...why not just use pidgin and do it natively?

pidgin also looks better GUI wise then empathy. People have said here there is no documented api, there is that licensing thing, pidgin is WAY more popular and has a ton of plugins and developer support behind it, i just don't see 'it has audio/video support' as a very good reason.]]> Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:05:19 +0000 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:08:07 +0000 http://live.gnome.org/TwoPointTwentythree/Desktop]]> Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:22:35 +0000 Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:10:46 +0000 https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/2008-August/005070.html

Empathy definitely needs to become default, because libempathy is going to make the online experience for GNOME fantastic. If we can get users comfortable with Empathy, Ubuntu will be a remarkable experience for them in the coming years -- not just for basic instant messaging, but for integration and collaboration all across this environment.]]> Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:22:06 +0000
If Empathy supports SIP and most Audio/Video over the IM networks that it supports (MSN, Jabber/XMPP, etc) then I would see it as more a replacement to Ekiga.]]> Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:28:19 +0000
Furthermore, we need more of a good framework. Pidgin's code I have heard is a nightmare. ]]> Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:43:27 +0000 http://blog.ibeentoubuntu.com/2008/08/gnome-has-empathy-for-you.html]]> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:35:06 +0000 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:56:31 +0000
Here is a summary of the arguments are, with my comments in parenthesis.

Offered benefits I've seen here:
Uses Telepathy (the official site doesn't offer any clear explanation to me as to its benefits)
File transfer on Jabber
VoIP on Google talk (but it has been mentioned that Pidgin will carry voice and video support by Intrepid)
More desktop integration (in what way, I'm not sure)
Better support for more protocols (What is "better"? Which protocols? I can only see Salut, and possibly SIP but that's not listed on live.gnome.org)
Happier user (May be true, but I haven't seen how, yet)
Pidgin appears to be developed slowly compared to Empathy (I'm not sure that's been substantiated; it appears to me that Pidgin just has a longer release cycle)
"Developers showed they're not interested at all in what their users want" (That's a strong accusation, and reminds me of the Funpidgin fork---yuck! Such talk is opinion, not fact, and I feel it is rude to accuse the Pidgin developers in this way.)
"Pidgin is the worst IM in the Software world" (Um, okay, next...)
Gnome will ship Empathy next release (Might have some really nice benefits!)
"libempathy is going to make the online experience for GNOME fantastic" (How so? I really do want to know!)
Get Ubuntu users familiar with Empathy for better integration and collaboration throughout Gnome (...)
"Pidgin is one of the oldest chat programs for Linux, and it still has no AV support (after all of this time)." (Past performance does not guarantee the future is bleak. It has been a choice of the developers which features to implement when, and they weren't so interested in it before. It's open source, after all, so this shouldn't be a major consideration anyway.)
Pidgin's code I have heard is a nightmare. (This is hearsay. Hearsay an easy way to spread falsehoods as facts, especially unintentionally. I have no way of knowing how reliable this statement is.)

Potential costs to switching away from Pidgin I've seen listed:
New interface to learn
Have to set up a new program
Gnome doesn't like GPL but prefers LGPL (That blog is blocked for some reason, but this reason sounds fishy to me. However, IANAL, so why should it make sense to me? As mentioned above, it appears Gnome will ship Empathy next release.)
Empathy has little/no documented API
Empathy is not as pretty as Pidgin (Opinion again, but I share that opinion, though it is a minor consideration)
Pidgin is more mature (This is abstract)
Pidgin has more features (I believe this too, but which ones? Is this really true?)
Pidgin natively uses libpurple already
Pidgin has more users (This is a good point.)
Pidgin has lots of plugins (Major problem in my opinion)
Pidgin is well-supported by developers (This seems to contradict a benefit listed above, but okay...)

I'm not against Empathy, but am a little concerned about switching to it.

Respectfully,
firefeather]]> Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:03:02 +0000 Just because it's an opinion (of over 90% of your users) doesn't make it an invalid point of criticism.
It wouldn't take you long to see the issue with these developers. What's rude is how they deal with users' complaints. Basically it goes like this:
Pidgin devs: "We have implemented this feature, changing functionality, and we also don't provide an option for switching back to the old functionality"
Users: "But Pidgin developer, we, hundreds of Pidgin users, would much rather see you make an option or reversing this decision since NOBODY LIKES THIS"
Pidgin devs: "Really, we like it better this way, it's better, someone will develop a plugin, which we will not endorse or support. Also, your reasoning is gibberish to us. Case closed"

I am for actively giving such developers the finger. It's a liability and I don't care if these are harsh accusations or not, it's simply how it is. Here, I'll give you 2 links for you to see what I mean.
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/30/1822237&from=rss
The ticket in question: http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/4986

Oh and Funpidgin was made solely because of this, and rightfully so.]]> Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:14:23 +0000
I would say that Ubuntu should include just for the video and audio chat support. ]]> Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:45:05 +0000 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:47:01 +0000
http://blogs.gnome.org/xclaesse/2008/04/21/announce-empathy-0231/]]> Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:54:33 +0000 Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:20:54 +0000 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:29:54 +0000
¿Have I miss a configuration dialog? If yes please tell me I like very much the way Empathy uses gnome-keyring to store passwords.

Sorry for my bad English]]> Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:58:40 +0000 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:37:16 +0000
I used Firefox, GIMP, Pidgin, Skype, Eclipse, OpenOffice on Windows and found the transition easy as this software exists also on Ubuntu....but I digress...

If Empathy is that great (and I've test run it today on Hardy) then why does it rely on libpurple?

I found Empathy to be inconsistent in it's GUI layout, notably in the accounts dialog...whereas Pidgin's GUI I feel is more professional (consistent and comprehensive). Empathy wouldn't connect up with MSN - I had to use MSN (Haze) which is a name not known and confusing to an MSN user. Empathy won't allow meta-contacts. Pidgin has a nice tooltip info pane for each contact - Empathy does not. One thing that Empathy did is sort my groups alphabetically - Pidgin doesn't. I noticed too that the status of various buddies was wrong - reporting as idle/away when they were not.

If one of the goals (of Ubuntu) is to attract a bigger Ubuntu audience (from Windows people I presume) then it helps to provide the same software they know and love and provide "professional" looking software and not something that doesn't quite look polished.

I'm happy to give Empathy a go when it matures - but right now it's a way behind Pidgin and what I'd expect from an IM client.

I'd hope the powers at Ubuntu seriously consider retaining Pidgin as the default IM client...if/when Empathy proves itself as superior overall, then by all means make that call at that time.]]> Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:33:13 +0000 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:31:02 +0000 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:53:53 +0000 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:26:47 +0000 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:29:25 +0000 While I agree with this in general, the specifics of this case are simply, well, unlike anything I've seen before. There are many good reasons to NOT implement a specific feature yet it is implemented. It's not about attacking developers, it's about giving an opinion, and the desire to move on. Here's the BIGGEST reason I would like Pidgin replaced: with the attitude of these people (Pidgin devs) I'm highly reluctant to install a new version of Pidgin: who knows what's going to change next because they (and ONLY they) think it's better that way? I do not trust that the next Pidgin is going to be as usable as Pidgin was before they changed the functionality this was all about.

"You're not getting a representative sample by looking at bug discussions, so I don't think we can say "The users have spoken, and the developers won't listen." I don't have time to read all the bug discussion you linked, but the sheer length implies to me that most of it was counterproductive."
No, the most of it was "Guys, this is not a good idea, it's annoying, please either change it back or give me an option". And the developers' response is really on that same page. Give it a read, spend 10 minutes on it.

It's not counterproductive, it's about making your program the best out there. After all, if you want people to USE it, you might not want to step on everybody's toes.

"Basically, what I'm getting at is that the "developers don't care about their users" criticism isn't useful to me at all and I don't like to see people acting like this."
Just because it isn't useful doesn't make it less true.

Again: if I have to be reluctant about upgrading to Pidgin current+1 because I don't believe these people know what's good for the interface of a program, and I fear that it's going to be less usable jet AGAIN, I'd rather move on. And that's not an assumption, they have demonstrated it.

And this is seriously only one thing. One more, quickly: they're NOT interested at all in such things as webcam support. In other words: they are not interested in what LOTS of people are interested in. That is blocking actual progress, and while such a conservative stand point is completely their own business, I would choose to move on and start working with people who WILL listen to their users and who don't stop progress JUST because they're not interested in the features requested.

If we want Gnome, Ubuntu and the user experience to improve with each iteration, the Pidgin devs and thus Pidgin simply have to go, as soon as we can replace Pidgin with a viable alternative. It's for the greater good.]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:02:16 +0000 Not only because of the lack of features and options (which is an important point too) but mainly because empathy automatically starts up at boot time and trys to log in.
I really can't stand that! And I won't give it another try before empathy breaks with this bad habit. -_-

(And don't tell me that I could "easily" remove it from the autostart. I want _at_ least an option in [empathy]->Edit->Preferences to disable the automatic start.)]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:35:48 +0000 for me the biggest problem is the missing OTR support (http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/)
If that is implemented then it can replace Pidgin (if the user wants to).

Thanks!


(OTR is really important, would be a great thing, if empathy would support that.)]]> Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:05:32 +0000
(*) OTR is neede of course
(*) all protocols must be support and work equal or the same (also directyl trough telephaty at the moment it just uses libpurple for nearly every protocol)
(*) File Transfers are really needed
(*) The gui must be more mature ( i love pidgins)
(*) If it uses gnomes key-chain it is kinda annoying having to enter it every startup. Think about cahnging that ( Maybe only password request when changing contact data? )
(*) Make it support sounds and notifications

I am using the version shippped with intrepid so i duno if it improved already]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:02:25 +0000
If pidgin get replaced with a client wich doesn't even handle some sort of file transfer support it will be backfired to Ubuntu, new users will think it is ubuntu which not handle the stuff that users use. ]]> Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:40:13 +0000
I voted against this because

1) Empathy is yet not mature for Gnome use! Lacks functional GUI and features

And just so everyone knows, let's not shove new softwares at ubuntu users just because they represent the "next" thing out there. User experience should always take priority over pushing the latest technology out there. Right now, pidgin doesn't offer video/audio, whereas Empathy does. Should that be a reason to switch?

NO! because Pidgin + Ekiga gives the same functionality, no, even better functionality with a better GUI than empathy! Which means the usability of these two softwares combined is much better to the user in terms of Ease-of-use and features.

Don't give me empathy until it absolutely surpasses pidgin and user ease-of-use.

And, that applies to any other new feature/software Ubuntu plans to unveil. The rule should be (I hope is) to switch to a new software replacement ONLY if it FIRST improves User Experience overall. Do not role out the new thing on the block because its the "future" or will be. Test it out behind doors. When it's ready with better features and better GUI (better than currently offered) Only then include it in a release.

Currently, empathy is not better than Pidgin. Please do not even think about offering it to me or shoving it down my throat until it's ready to do. Because the last thing I want to find out is that the new replacement application can't do a certain task that the previous default application could. ]]> Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:36:21 +0000
Please be patient.

IF Empathy becomes better than Pidgin, THEN you can replace it. But only after it is stable, has all the same features as Pidgin, and works easily out of the box.]]> Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:52:20 +0000
NO! because Pidgin + Ekiga gives the same functionality, no, even better functionality with a better GUI than empathy! Which means the usability of these two softwares combined is much better to the user in terms of Ease-of-use and features."

You can tell THAT to all the people with MSN who you WON'T be able to show yourself to because we STILL won't have a messenger with webcam support if it were up to you (apparantly). I know that Ekiga is great and there is a lot to be said for the old UNIX philosophy you're talking about, but if you want to communicate with others, don't forget that they too have to use a compatible client. And they don't. They have skype, MSN, Yahoo, and that's the end of that. You forget that there are 2 parties involved here, not just yourself. This kind of thought processes will make sure Ubuntu lags behind in certain areas.]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:03:13 +0000 I'm using Empathy instead of Pidgin these days, sort of like a pilot to see if it'd work. I have to say I don't miss Pidgin already. I'm a fairly simple IM user, and for that Empathy really does do the trick. It needs more polish, more features, sure, but it's never crashed for me and it usually gives me no trouble. For a simple IM client, it seems to work much better than you give it credit for. The one major gripe I have with it, is that ridiculously small input box. Everybody was mad at Pidgin devs when they set the input box to 2 lines and took away the resize option it had. Empathy is even WORSE at that, providing you with just ONE line initially and not letting you resize. Argh!! Other than that, come april, it might be good enough for inclusion. Pidgin has been a dead end for years, this might not be. :)]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:07:06 +0000 Everybody was mad at Pidgin devs when they set the input box to 2 lines and took away the resize option it had.

I wasn't. It auto-resizes. They made a good decision.]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:56:28 +0000 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:14:53 +0000
There's an option in Preferences --> Conversations for "Minimum input area height", but it's not necessary since the input area resizes automatically to fit whatever you input. The Pidgin developers are good at that sort of thing.

Not good at video, audio, file transfer, or anything other than chat, though.]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:49:49 +0000 Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:08:36 +0000 Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:53:34 +0000
KEEP IN MIND
Empathy covers all the bases better than pidgin now except for some small features that cater to fewer users. Regardless, it is still easy for anyone to go head and install pidgin]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:16:37 +0000
Well, so far I've been unable to get voice or video working through Jabber, let alone that or even file transfers through ANY protocol on Empathy, and I'm using the latest 2.26.0.1 version.

So, Pidgin still seems to have more features, that would be why it's still the default chat program on most distros.]]> Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:33:21 +0000
The only thing missing is file-transfers with win32-gtalk client.

Pidgin is bloated and slow compared to Empathy]]> Sat, 23 May 2009 09:42:43 +0000 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:07:25 +0000
Thats the problem with open source, nobody wants anything to change, but sometimes it needs to, to improve things]]> Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:50:07 +0000 Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:33:44 +0000
1) Look at all the users with 3GB of RAM who more concerned that a program uses 80MB of RAM vs the 30MB another does, then the feature set.
2) Some users are also highly concerned about open source. If I had a dollar though for every open source/GPL advocate who never touched the source code, I'd be rich
3) Users are easily brainwashed. Its why when Apple releases shonky hardware, customers never got angry. Yet one tiny fault on a PC and they go skitzo. Apple users also tend to ignore faults. We had customers who had Apple hardware which spent most of their time in service. They were still happy to buy another MAC. And look at the first gen iPod nano's, it was rare for screens not to break. No class lawsuit though...

Users are easily manipulated, usually don't have all the facts or make silly assumptions. In many cases they also don't understand the technology fully (like Udev, many people were even complaining about that).



Now, this is why:
1) Pidgin isn't very flexible. You have 1 gui. Many users may not like the GUI, but thats what you are stuck with. With Empathy, you could get a new one.. \
2) Furthermore, the pidgin code is known to cause nightmares. Its why their bounties are always worth so much (even for basic tasks).
3) Users wont appreciate change, but they CAN appreciate full integration of IM with their programs. At the moment many users use ventrilo and such for chatting in games. In the future though, you could integrate empathy within your applications, and your clan could use a Jabber MUC channel (with jingle) for communications instead. Integrated IM would be preferable to users then alt+tabbing.
4) Furthermore, integration with applications like VNC for instance allow easier screen sharing or maybe even inviting people to listen in to your music.

Empathy REALLY opens things up. Its more then just a gui. ]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:05:35 +0000
"In the future" sounds nice and all, but the future isn't here, and Empathy isn't ready, and shoving it down the users' throats when they clearly don't want it will not be appreciated.]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:40:47 +0000
And Empathy now apparently supports SIP calls and video (something which pidgin still does not).


Furthermore, Pidgin still has plenty of shortcomings anyway too. And I'd be betting users would rather a messaging client with AV, then one without..]]> Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:04:37 +0000
You should set up your own XMPP server and use that instead. ]]> Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:49:14 +0000
Pidgin has a Windows client which makes it interesting for migration paths, and OTR has a pluggin for it, which can also be used by Mac users (with Adium). People are also used to Pidgin. The transition can't be just "here, we replaced it", as most people won't be part of the current discussions. The import tool is a good example of functionality we need to have to make that transition.

I can see how making Empathy the default IM will expose it more to the Ubuntu user base, but *brace*... it won't be pretty. Installing it side by side would be a more sensible choice IMO.]]> Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:03:54 +0000
That's why I think Pidgin is still a better default IM app than Empathy. Specifically:

- Pidgin has a much bigger user base.
- Pidgin has a great set of features which works very well.
- Pidgin has a great set of plugins (Guifications, for instance).
- Pidgin has a better MSN protocol support (essential for Spanish & other European users).
- Pidgin has a better UI (have you seen the Empathy's Accounts dialog? I'm unable to read the whole account name in the accounts list!).
- Pidgin has a better integration with the Ubuntu desktop (Indicator Applet, Fast User Switch Applet...).
- Pidgin is a much more mature and stable project.]]> Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:30:56 +0000
2) I wouldn't brag about pidgins features. The main feature people need is missing (voice/video conferencing). And the rest are minor or rarely used. Most the features are little gimmicky ones that aren't really required

3) Same as 2

4) How does it have better MSN support exactly?

5) Not really. Pidgin is a usability disaster in so many ways I think.

6) The indicator applet isn't the right way to do things anyway. Its a notification area, not a persistent application area. Even Windows no longer wants applications sticking around in it.. So consider this a bug, not a feature...

7) Mature and stable is questionable. Its ancient yes, and despite being so, even newish clients support AV.


Pidgin is going nowhere. Sorry, but its not that user friendly, it doesn't integrate well, the developers have said many times the code is a nightmare, AV is missing, and the interface is cluttered.

Furthermore, the developers have no interest in AV, yet, AV conferencing is common on Windows/OSX, so it should be somewhat of a priority.

Pidgin is very basic...

For the majority of people, I sincerely believe they might find empathy more useful, ]]> Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:55:56 +0000
2) Is REALLY v/v conferencing the main feature people need? I don't know any IM user who uses v/v conferencing, neither Windows nor Ubuntu, at least not massively. And the rest doesn't need to be minor or rarely used.

3) Same as 2.

4) Unable to send offline messages. Unable to send/receive files at full speed. Unable to Unable to see the buddy's avatar in the chat window.

5) I don't think so, but please, tell me why.

6) Seems that's not a bug for the Ubuntu people, because the Indicator Applet is a very important piece of their Ayatana project.

7) Mature maybe, stable doesn't seems to be. I'm unable to login into my MSN account. Maybe a new fix solves the issue.

We're always talking about AV, but please, don't forget the essential: IM is about Instant Messaging. We shouldn't select an IM app basically for its AV features. That's not the first and primary feature for an IM app.

For the majority of people, I sincerely believe they might find empathy more useful... in the future, when Empathy really be ready.

IMHO, of course.]]> Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:21:21 +0000
1) And how big is pidgins userbase? Not that big anyway.. I know plenty of people who prefer kopete over pidgin.

2) Anyone I know with friends/relatives overseas use it.

3) Same as 2

4) Minor issues, can be fixed..

5) Everything from basic amateur mistakes like:
http://tips.webdesign10.com/free-software/how-use-jabber (local alias and screenname make no sense to users) to having an options panel that destroys families.


8) You seem to be mistaking COMMUNICATION PLATFORM for chat client. Its not hard to make a text chat client, but its main purpose is communication, voice and video too (even games)


And its not just for its AV features, it can also integrate better then pidgin. I agree it might not be 100% yet, but if Canonical wanted to chip in, it probably would be ready very quickly. ]]> Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:04:54 +0000
Things I'd like to see before switching to Empathy:

- Be able to easily import all message logs from pidgin
- Insure that I can have full-speed transfers for the MSN protocol
- Needs to have plug-in capability with the same main plug-ins as pidgin.
- Needs to be a bit less ugly.
- unable to send offline messages

Pidgin already seems to be highly integrated with Nautilus. Why can't the empathy guys just kill this project and work on Pidgin if they don't like it? Pidgin has a pretty developed codebase it just needs more developers.
]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:12:52 +0000
It really doesn't integrate that well, and its not efficient to work with. Pidgin would have more developers if it didn't take a lifetime to understand WTF is going on.. I've taken a look at the codebase, and from my opinion, its horrible.

Whilst codebases like Songbird and firefox are horrible on the lower levels, from the top layer, things are awesome. Pidgin on the other hand is apparently horrible on every layer.

Furthermore, you shouldn't need an army of developers to integrate with something. With empathy you don't (its designed in a way that its not neccessary). With Pidgin, you really do. Having been an IM client that was first released in 1999 (same time as MSN messenger), it hasn't come that far. And if I compare to the Gaim I was using 3 or 4 years ago, barely anything has changed. ]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:15:27 +0000 1) I don't work with the pidgin codebase 24/7, but have taken a look and spoken to developers
2) I haven't really looked at the empathy code directly, and am only aware of the way its been architectured. ]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:23:01 +0000
The greatest thing we use is the pigdin-sipe plugin that gives us interop with MS Office Communicator server.

It works great.]]> Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:45:16 +0000
no contact merging, no plugin support, with Empathy i need at minimal 2 other window opened (skype, fb chat).
]]> Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:19:58 +0000
Let's get this straight...

You guys are saying "I don't care what the users say, Empathy is better. Pidgin sucks because it doesn't care what the users say."

??!!?!??! *head asplodes*]]> Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:46:38 +0000
Call me when Empathy isn't buggy, supports OTR and social networking, and can actually run on Windows.]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:09:08 +0000 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:16:45 +0000
Its been 9 years since gaim started, and people STILL don't use it outside of linux, because its only redeeming feature is that it supports many protocols. Empathy is only 3 years old and already contains video support.

Sorry, but when put into perspective, no IM project should take 9 years to add functionality which most IM software added in their first year. If Pidgin wasn't a casual project, it would be a lot better then it is currently.

Empathy has its flaws, but its only 3 years old. Pidgin just has its flaws (and no real excuse).

Just my thoughts anyway..]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:47:16 +0000