As Steve Jobs show Leopard’snew adaptation of iChatduring Monday ’s WWDC keynote , my initial answer was two - plication . First , “ give thanks you . ” iChat user got a number of feature we ’ve been requesting for quite a while . My second mentation was , “ You know , a gang of third - party developers are n’t run to be too happy about this . ” Many of the features - to - be are mightily out of the books of shareware and freeware products . Perhaps some of these are “ well , duh ” feature that anyone who uses iChat extensively could come up without much trouble , but what is n’t a closed book is that Leopard ’s iChat will be much more appealing to hard yak and may even make iChat user out of exploiter who are n’t presently enamored with instant messaging .
How it works
iChat has been around since the days of Jaguar ( OS X 10.2 ) , with audio and video - conferencing capabilities added in Panther ( OS X 10.3 ) . That functionality is n’t going anywhere — this is still a messaging client that permit you have text , interpreter , and video chats with anyone with an AIM , .Mac , or Jabber screen name . But the new variant offer a number of utile changes and addition .
What’s changed
The last metre Apple elevate Mac OS X , another build - in app , Safari 2 , added tabbed browse — which lets you have multiple Web sites open in a single windowpane — to cut down on window jumble . People have been care for similar functionality in iChat for quite a while . Current iChat users can get that feature ( and much more ) by installing Chax ( ) , but tabbed chats will be work up into Leopard . Even better , in the new iChat , float text bubbles permit you fuck if someone in a dissimilar tab is station a message ; you wo n’t miss messages in one pill just because you ’re chatting in another .
Although it ’s easy to save transcripts of your text chat in the current interlingual rendition of iChat , keep a video track record is not so easy — at least not without third - political party software such as Ecamm web ’s Conference Recorder ( ) . But the Leopard interlingual rendition of iChat will let you memorialise video ( and , we presume , audio ) sessions out - of - the - boxwood . What ’s up in the strain is whether or not iChat will offer as many options or as much flexibleness as Conference Recorder .
iChat currently has a few rudimentary characteristic for determining who can “ see ” when you ’re on-line or unwarranted , but the new iChat in OS X 10.5 will let you set your status toInvisible — you’ll be online and sign in , but no one , not even your closest buddies , will love it . ( This feature has been available for nearly a 10 on chat services such asICQand is long delinquent . )
As for other changes to existing iChat feature of speech , the days of being able to log into only a individual AIM/.Mac schmooze account at a prison term will be over with Leopard . If you ’ve got multiple AIM/.Mac accounts — for exercise , personal and workplace — each with its own Buddy List , you ’ll be capable to access to all those accounts at the same time ( although you ’ll plainly have disjoined Buddy Lists for each account ) .
As with Apple ’s Photo Booth — or Script Software ’s ChatFX — iChat in Leopard will include special effects for alter your double .
What’s new
The major additions to Leopard ’s iChat we ’ve understand thus far center on video chat feature film and effects — and most of them will sound quite intimate to anyone hip to the latest in third - party iChat add - ons .
Take the special picture effect that will be a part of iChat in Leopard . Sure , those special effects can be found in the Photo Booth covering that ships with all iSight - equipped Macs , but it took Script Software ’s ChatFX ( ) to apply such effects to iChat video . In Leopard , this functionality is built right into iChat : Just select an effect , and it ’s applied to your video , in literal time , as the video is sent to your AV chat buddy . And because all the video processing occurs on your own Mac , your buddy does n’t even have to be run Leopard to see those effect . ( As I noted in my critique of ChatFX , some of the more CPU - intensive event result in a bit of video lag ; I ’m curious to see if this will also be the case in the new iChat . It also continue to be seen if , like ChatFX , the new iChat will have people make their own effects . )
Leopard ’s iChat will allow you insert a picture or video behind you as a backdrop .
The next edition of iChat also provides a feature similar to one of ChatFX ’s more singular — though less reliable — capabilities : inserting a photograph or video behind you as a backdrop . However , or else of using a primal - colour background approach , the backdrop feature of speech in Leopard ’s iChat will take a depiction ofyourbackground first and then replace it with the photo or video of your alternative . From the demos we ’ve construe , there will still be a slender border around your head and body , so you ’re unlikely to convince your boss that you ’re work when you ’re really at the beach . But it looks like a playfulness feature , nonetheless .
A more pragmatic addition to iChat is the ability to show a slideshow , movie , or presentation to whomever you ’re chit-chat with . Eberhard Rensch ’s ShowMacster ( ) let you do that right now , but Leopard will save you € 15 by comprise standardised functionality , make it a bit easier to use , and knight it iChat Theater . For example , while look at an record album in iPhoto , a click of a button will institutionalise that album to the current chat and present it as a slideshow with your gull in a little boxful , off to the side , as you narrate . And developers will be able to add such post - to - iChat compatibility to their own apps .
With the press of a button , you’re able to display iPhoto images as a slideshow for other participant in your iChat video session .
Another utile young feature is Screen Sharing . Although ChatFX and ShowMacster rent you show other iChat participants your Mac ’s CRT screen , the quality is n’t great and your buddy can only watch . At the other ending of the spectrum , Mac OS X ’s built - in VNC capability let you view and control another Mac , but setup is n’t easy . iChat combines the good of both earth with its Modern Screen Sharing feature . With a detent of a clit , two iChat player can share and control one of the participants ’ macintosh , all the while communicating via an audio chat . you may even exhibit the other Mac ’s screen in full - screen mode , and switch between your own screen and the remote filmdom with a unmarried click .
Finally , if you ’re tired of ho-hum , inactive chum icons , Leopard will volunteer live - quicken versions . Although largely an “ eye candy ” feature , there ’s been enough of a need for it that two different third - political party products , iChat Streaming IconandLiveIcon , offer it for the current version of iChat .
Who’s it for
If you ’re already a grave user of iChat , especially its audio / video capabilities , the Leopard adaptation ’s changes will surely be welcome — you’ll get more of the feature iChat users have been asking for , and you ’ll get a number of popular features that antecedently would have cost you a good glob of change in third - company software package .
But the unexampled features should also breed a safe turn of Modern iChat users by making iChat much more utile for business enterprise , technical school support , and multimedia schmooze . The ability to remotely give Keynote presentation to multiple people has the potential to make iChat a powerful business tool . Similarly , being able-bodied to quickly show your parents a slideshow of your newborn infant or a video of your baby ’s first steps as you ’re let the cat out of the bag to them is a compelling use of technology . And the fact that you ’ll be able-bodied to view and control your less - than - tech - savvy friend ’s computer covert from across the country — without any more setup than starting a schmoose — will make trouble-shoot much easier ( although it may also mean that you spend a slew more of your time helping fix friends ’ computers ) .
What’s missing
A few questions about the new iChat still need to be respond . How will these new intro effects and capabilities affect the identification number of people who can participate in audio and telecasting chats ? ( And will Apple increase the number of people who can participate in general ? ) How will displaying a Keynote presentation or motion picture in a video confab affect execution ? Will there be a performance slay if you apply picture result while participating in a multi - person television chat ?
There are also some no - brainer feature that we ’re indisputable we ’re not alone in want . For example , why not contribute Yahoo and Microsoft messaging support , so you really can chat withallyour buddies using iChat , no matter what client they ’re using ? Another desire feature is better audio quality ; the current interlingual rendition ’s sound is fair compare to Skype and other audio - confab and VOIP service .
What it means
Despite motion that remain and feature that remain absent , from what we saw at the keynote and what Apple has herald , the upcoming improvements make this arguably the most pregnant upgrade to iChat yet . And although it ’s inauspicious that a number of third - party developer will find their ware less compelling come springiness 2007 , from an death - drug user standpoint , having these lineament built into iChat mean few compatibility issues and , hopefully , well repose of use .
