Any Takers?
Monday, February 13, 2006 at 12:49PM Hi all, I was curious if I could get a show of hands (or a reply post would do nice) for all those interested in using instant messaging. Go ahead and post how you think we might benefit from using some type of shared protocol. I personally do not feel it's neccessary to have to email someone (or search calnet's LDAP directory for a phone number) everytime I'd like to know if someone is in their office. Nature has become an emessage server; storing/transmitting not just email. In addtion, most people IMAP to their nature accounts, leaving a surplus of messages on the Nature server. My suggestion for those interested would be to get gmail accounts (many of us already do) and use Google Talk. Google Talk uses an open, xml standard known as Jabber/XMPP, which unlike AOL and MSN is decentralized (probably more secure and extensible to boot). Google Talk also uses VoIP, which translates to "make long distance calls via the internet". And of course, you can configure iChat (Mac users) or GAIM (Linux freaks) to connect to the Google Talk network, so no one should feel left out. abe h: mariahoney@gmail.com
Reader Comments (4)
Heck I'll throw my name into the ring.
james.fee@gmail.com
Aside from the inevitable posterior aggrandizement this "plan" would engender in all participants, is it too sentimentally 20th century of me to fault it because sometimes, secretly, in the deepest and most organic recesses of my mostly-cyborg heart, I actually appreciate talking to people in person ("facetime," if you will)? Like, is it really so hard to walk down the hall? That said, although Jabber would probably be my IM platform of choice, Google's version might not be, given privacy concerns. I mean, it's all well and good if know I'm in my office, but if knows they might start sending me meatspace text ads via carrier pigeon or something. Perish the thought. We (you) could theoretically set up our own Jabber server though...