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Reader: Further problems with iChat

updated 03:20 pm EDT, Fri August 16, 2002

A reader notes another problem with iChat (we reported on a different problem yesterday) that causes the Buddy List to not update after an extended period of time.

"There is another glitch with iChat. After being logged on for a set
amount of time (not sure not long yet), iChat will stop showing the
most up to date Buddy List, and you won't see messages that are sent to
you. This happened 3 or 4 times to me last night. I was online, and
didn't see a response from someone, so I typed in a message to see if
they were there. I went on to AIM with iChat running, and sent a
message, and the person immediately responded, even copied and
pasted the conversation showing what I said, then what they said in
reply, which I never received. Also, buddies that I thought were still
on, weren't, and my buddy list didn't reflect that. Because of the
nature of the program, I'm not sure if its something on the client side
or the server side of it. It could very well be a glitch with the way
AOL IM servers react to ichat clients. Nevertheless, its a frustrating
problem, and I was logged in using a standard AOL IM username, not a
.mac account."

by MacNN Staff

(42)

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MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 03:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
scary

I was anticipating 'switching' to iChat from Adium next week. Maybe I won't, now.

http://www.danielbergey.com/

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 03:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
me too

I have seen this too. It actually took me a while to figure out what was happening. I thought people just weren't anwsering me. Anyway, the problem is so bad that I had to stop using ichat and go back to AIM,which has its own problems under 10.2 but at least i get my messages. I'm hoping apple comes out with a fix soon b/c its a great program and I really want to use it. I'm running 10.2 on a powerbook G4 and have seen this problem while hooked up to ehternet and wireless.

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08/16, 03:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
scary

I was anticipating 'switching' to iChat from Adium next week. Maybe I won't, now.

http://www.danielbergey.com/

MacNN.com Reader
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08/16, 03:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
maybe it's not ichat

why does one
automatically think
it's a problem with the app
geez
something happens to
this person and of course
they blame it on the app
maybe there's something
wrong with your setup
pleaes do some more
testing before bitching
and posting such things
i see this way too often
nowadays on these forums
just look back at the
ipod 1.2 update
and see all those people
who didn't get the new
"DO NOT DISCONNECT MESSAGE"
makes one want to cry

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 03:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
maybe it's not ichat

why does one
automatically think
it's a problem with the app
geez
something happens to
this person and of course
they blame it on the app
maybe there's something
wrong with your setup
pleaes do some more
testing before bitching
and posting such things
i see this way too often
nowadays on these forums
just look back at the
ipod 1.2 update
and see all those people
who didn't get the new
"DO NOT DISCONNECT MESSAGE"
makes one want to cry

allenhuffman
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0

08/16, 04:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
Adium and Proteus

Adium seems to be the best AOL client around (chat wise; it doesn't support file xfers and other fancy features) but now I am using Proteus. It does all the services and keeps them in one nice window (if you desire) so you don't clutter up your screen with 10 chats at the same time ;-)

iChat is interesting since it's a "newbie" type of thing -- "everyone is on AOL IM" and now you can chat with people right out of the box. If they are Mac OS X users, even better. However, unless iChat is at least as good as what is out there it's going to take awhile to switch people over.

Remember how ICQ used to rule the chat world -- AOL IM, at that time, just sucked. It had no features and the only people who used it were AOL folks. As soon as AOL grew in features, people started adopting it. iChat can evolve the same way; the demo was impressive. I will give it a shot next week, but I don't expect to switch for Proteus anytime soon.

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 04:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
huh?

was that a poem?

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 04:40pm | report spam | close Reply |
um, it's not released ye

Unless this iChat is on a newly purchased machine, why don't we wait for the official Apple release before whining,

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 04:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
seriously

who are all these a--hats complaining about prerelease software they nerfed off some p*** server. wait a bloody week and cough up the dough, you cheapskates.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/16, 05:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ignorant savages...

Ahh, surrounded by a sea of ignorance. Okay, just trying to sound like a pretensious Mac board poster (see, I don't think I even spelled pretensious right..). Actually, before anyone plays the "your pirated, you pirated!" game, please read some other Mac news and realize that people are getting copies of Jaguar with new machines as we speak. These could be legitimate concerns and we should do our best to help them.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/16, 05:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
truth

this is by all means a valid complaint. while i haven't seen it consistant on all machines, iChat does certainly do exactly what is mentioned in this article. So much so that I too have switched back to adium. There is nothing wrong with my setup. In fact, I took the time to add every single of my buddies information into the address book. I"m doing it the way apple wants me too.

PS. there are bugs all over the "buddy info" adding screen. sometimes it won't sync up new buddies with existing contacts, and other times it won't add the names.

unsquared
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08/16, 05:12pm | report spam | close Reply |
doubt problem is iChat

I have rather similar problems with the current version od AOL IM. The difference with IM is that the sent messages don't show up locally either.

the cubed
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0

08/16, 06:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
As a side note

I dislike the iChat interface....but that's just me....

As for a 3rd party AIM client, I use Proteus (www.indigofield.com)....it not only does AIM, but the others too.....quite reliable and updated frequently....and no I don't write it....I've just tried everything and found it to be the best and most flexible.

CUBE>

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 06:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
AOL AIM client does this

the current version of AOL's own AIM client does this right now. i often have to sign off, and then sign back on to cure the problem. i think it must be something with their servers.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/16, 07:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
comments on iChat...

Yes, I agree. Don't start screaming "Pirate, Pirate!". Not only is Jag and iChat appearing on shipped machines already but most members of ADC and Apple ALL have been using Jaguar for Months.
(ADC is of course... Apple Developers Connection- this includes hardware and software developers)

Also, if you don't like the speech bubbles that you saw in the keynote, you can turn them off I've been told. Then it works just like you expect.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/16, 07:48pm | report spam | close Reply |
Two Comments

1.) It does not matter if these 10.2 copies are pirated or not. If these people are running 6C511, then they are running the release version of 10.2. What doesn't work for them will not work for the rest of us when when open up that tacky looking box next Sat.. It's time to stop berating these people (while simultaneously ignoring the problem) and accepting these bug comments. This guy has a copy, most of us don't. I, for one, appreciate getting a heads-up on bugs. I'd rather anticipate a problem than be disappointed next Sat.. It's not like he said that iChat is terrible and that no one should buy 10.2. He's just reporting flaws for the sake of common knowledge.

2.) I too have difficulties with AIM 4.5.651 under 5S66. My sent messages and Buddy List often fail to catch up with present time and I am forced to sign off and then on to restore my connection. Of course, this is "beta" software so maybe I shouldn't complain. :-P

bdusen
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08/16, 08:38pm | report spam | close Reply |
AIM and 10.2

Exactly what are the difficulties people are experiencing with AIM and 10.2? iChat looks okay but I like using a lot of the features in AIM and I don't know how many will be carried into iChat (buddy icons, direct image connections, etc.). I hate having to explain to people why I can't do *blank* because I run a Mac specific clone of AIM, it looks bad for the Mac platform if people think we have crippled versions. Does anyone know if AOL will even continue to develop AIM for Mac OS X in lieu of iChat? I would hope so. Selection is good and I'd hate to see another third party solution fade away because of the introduction of yet another iApp.

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 09:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
that's it!

I am switching to Windows!

I don't have iChat, don't need it, haven't seen the problem myself, but if someone out there is has this problem, I quit Apple!

Billy Boy, here I come!

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/16, 10:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
You're switching?

... can I have your Mac?

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/17, 12:03am | report spam | close Reply |
what do you expect...

it's pronounced ... i'schat

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/17, 01:48am | report spam | close Reply |
You're switching?

Yeah, sure dude!

In fact I have about five of 'em. Even a dual gig G4, only a few months old, hooked up to a studio display and H/K Sound Sticks! Got a Power Book (pretty old), iBook, iMac and a G3. Gimme your address and I'll just send 'em right over.

All thanks to iChat! This is yur lucky day!

I already ordered my Dell off a Mikies website, wonder if it comes with a chat app?

Good bye Mac!

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 02:09am | report spam | close Reply |
I sent the information in

I'm the one who sent the information to Macnn. In response to the moron who said I was running pirated software, on a bad configuration, sending people on a witch hunt while not even knowing if it was a problem with a program to begin with, i must say this. Learn to read. I stated specifically that it wasn't clear if it was a problem with the client software or the server software. My software is legit, I am set up on ADC. And about me just complaining about this OS? Pure c***, I actually love OS 10.2 It brings alot of things that I wasn't expecting. It is by far the best operating system I have ever run, which does go beyond just the standard Mac OS, considering I run linux, Windows 2000, and Windows Xp, in addition to about to set up a BSD box. So next time you feel the urge to talk c***, get your head out of your butt, and read the words infront of your face.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 03:11am | report spam | close Reply |
Longtime AIM Problem

I'm too lazy to look through the list and see if anybody else has had this problem, but PLENTY of times in the past, I'd leave my computer on, and when I get back to it, it says I'm online, it says certain people are away or idle, and then I get a phone call from my Mother asking me why I'm not online. I log off and log back on AIM, and sure enough, the list of people that are online looks VERY different. This has been a LONGTIME problem with AIM on OS 9.

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/17, 08:52am | report spam | close Reply |
iChat features

iChat supports buddy icons and direct connections.

MacNN.com Reader
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0

08/17, 10:39am | report spam | close Reply |
response to the response

well this is to
the guy that
reported the problem
to macnn
look at the first sentence
of your letter it says
"there is another problem with ichat"
you weren't beating
around the bush there
and why did you send
the problem to macnn?
was it to have the
pleasure of being
"me first, me first ,
look at me
look what i found
aren't i so smart "
the proper thing would be
to post it in the forums
so people can discuss it
and possibly give you
suggestons or feedback
well
i guess macnn has to
share the blame to
post such a incendiary
and rumorlicious headline
before comfirming the problem
iunno
i guess it is a rumor site

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 11:00am | report spam | close Reply |
r***** who replied to me

No one with any kind of intelligence goes to Mac forums. Why? Because they are full of posts about how Apple is ripping everyone one off by not shipping Dual G5 3GHz computers in the imacs. By posting it to Macnn, it makes the problem known openly and public, and increases the chances of Apple getting the problem resolved faster. While posting it on a forum would just start a heated discussion about how Adium is a better program, and I should stop wasting my time with iChat. Is that good enough for you?

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 11:25am | report spam | close Reply |
why macnn?

this is to the person
who wrote to macnn
so why didn't you
go to macfixit
a more legitimate
mac problem site
probably
because you knew
they would never post
your idiotic ichat problem
admit it
you just
wanted some attention
some validation of
your feeble mac skills
i like macnn
but never for
technical solutions
good god!
anybody familiar
with mac sites
would know this
i don't know
why you don't
erggghhh!!!
you give mac users
a bad reputation of
being whiners
i cast thee out!!!

can i get an amen, mac brothers!

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 11:35am | report spam | close Reply |
I don't go to macfixit

i don't go to macfixit. If I wanted attention, then why aren't I whining about my name not being posted with the report? I don't care about the attention. Tell me though, how long has that stick been stuck up your butt.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 11:38am | report spam | close Reply |
It does matter!!

Cracked software sucks!

Please Please Please don't pirate 10.2 - in the end it screws it up for us all!!

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 12:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
Who needs IM?

I'm kind of serious. I've always taken AIM off my Netscape installations, once I figured out the coercive way it was installed, behind your back. When I have tried out chat stuff, it just sits there unused. When I've tried to use IM to talk to others, it's either a boring exercise in typing twaddle or the equivalent of a busy signal or a "not home."

E-mail is great. Phones are great. IM sucks, IMHO.

So who uses the thing, and why? It's just for online junkies, right? s** fiends typing dirty at each other? Seriously. I want to know. What do people actually use it for?

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 02:13pm | report spam | close Reply |
Who needs chicken?

I don't like the taste of chicken. I've tried it, and I don't like it. When I've had it before, it was really just kind of boring.

Beef is great. Tofu is great. Chicken sucks, IMHO.

....

Okay, but to answer your real question, I've found that IM has "legitimate" uses -- like trying to arrange a meeting time without using the phone. Much better than seven emails back and forth to arrange a time and spot...

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 02:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
Do you

I know you said Chicken sucks but do you suck on beef?

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 03:08pm | report spam | close Reply |
Why post bugs on MacNN?

If you are a legitimate ADC member, you should be reporting these issues through Apple's support so that these issues can be properly addressed. Posting heresay about an app they may have problems on a third-party b**** site does nothing to help the Mac community. Especially since you say you are an ADC member. Apple provides early access to developers through ADC to not only help developers but also to help themselves turn out quality products. You and MacNN can do us all a favor and stick to the facts in reporting actual news rather than heresay.

I too have found AIM software/service to be buggy on many platforms. As to wether AIM has a "legitimate" use? AIM was the only reliable form of communication I had for a period of time after 9/11. Its the only thing I do like about AOL. Just my 2 cents...

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 04:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Pirate!

I am 100% pirating every version of the Mac OS released from now on! No way in h*** I am paying Apple for releases. NO WAY!

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 04:12pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Who needs IM?

"E-mail is great. Phones are great. IM sucks, IMHO."

Try talking to someone on the phone that lives on the opposite coast! It gets VERY expensive.

And email is not real time chat. Plus sometimes I talking to five people at once.. Am I going to do that on the phone?

Just because you think you are above something (or have no friends) doesn't mean other people feel that way.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 05:36pm | report spam | close Reply |
A purpose indeed

IM does indeed have a purpose, the same as phones or e-mail blah bloody blah, communication. I use it to talk to clients and fellow freelancers who I work with, hey it 's better than swapping endless e-mails and certainly less time botherome than a phone call. You know there was a time when people believed cameras took your soul? And as for iChat, Apple will fix it, they always do, chill out already.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/17, 10:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
post if to apple

if you are an ADC member log a bug and move on.

reporting this to Macnn serves no purpose and doesnt help Apple fix the bug.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/18, 03:32am | report spam | close Reply |
BOO YAH!

Brushed metal IMs!

-the "boo yah" guy

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08/18, 11:13am | report spam | close Reply |
Hmmmmmm

Why does the really mean and bitter guy always type like it's a poem?

Why can people like "It does matter!!" not read? He didn't crack 10.2. You can't "crack" 10.2. It's an ADC copy -- which means he probably shouldn't discuss it here, but then again, I haven't read the NDA. Regardless, countless people have reported that they have received copies of 10.2 with their new systems and some have even reported that their stand-alone software has shipped. Drop the piracy issue! It's doesn't change the fact that iChat and/or AOL's AIM servers are buggy.

And finally. Many people use IM programs for countless, countless reason. They are not all disturbed "s** fiends" and "junkies." As a student, I find it especially useful to communicate with people without using the phone. I can talk for hours with my mother, my girlfriend, my friends in TX, CA, NY, PA, IL, and the UK. If you can afford that phone bill, then by all means; but I will continue to use IM programs. If your experiences have been "typing twaddle" or "not at home," then I might suggest two things: stop typing twaddle and stop IMing people who are away or busy. The rest of us cannot help that YOUR conversations are garbage or that your friends are never around. That does not make IM programs useless or the people that use them fiends and junkies.

MacNN.com Reader
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08/19, 01:09am | report spam | close Reply |
Pirating 10.2????

h*** yeah, ima pirate that s***!!!! im a graphics designer who's out of work, my 733 g4 is cool, but my velocd went bonkers in it, no thanks to my single drive bay(damn you apple- i love ya though). suffice it say, my hobbled-to-make-it-low-end 733 is gonna be full of pirtae s*** soon, cuz there aint no mOney lefty for no "JAG-WIRE"!!
Oh, and i just spent 1000 biucks on asamsung 18 inch monitor with a warranty that makes aplle's look like friking oranges if ya know what i mean baby!!! s**** formac too!!!

Man, ima pirate evrything!!! ,WAAHAHAHAHA!!!!

P.P.- if someone wants to help me get some software, you know from you employed bunch, mail me at aimtodestroy@hotmail.com

-helfire

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08/19, 02:15am | report spam | close Reply |
aimtodestroy@hotmail.com

With a mind like that I just cannot imagine how it is you find yourself out of work. What a cruel and unfair world this is indeed!

MacNN.com Reader
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08/19, 04:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
Two problems here...

Well, at least two...

1) The first is the same as everyone else's. iChat just stops working after a reasonable amount of time and both parties have to sign off and on again to resume conversation. Fine if you're both on ICQ/MSN as well, but that kinda defeats the point!

2) Today I noticed that iChat refused to sign back on to Rendezvous after I switched network interface, ie, I was using AirPort at home, left iChatAgent running, slept my machine, woke it up again, plugged into the Ethernet network at work, and it wouldn't work. Had to kill iChatAgent and then restart iChat.

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Reader: Further problems with iChat

updated 03:20 pm EDT, Fri August 16, 2002

Related Articles

Recent Articles

scary

me too

scary

maybe it's not ichat

maybe it's not ichat

Adium and Proteus

huh?

um, it's not released ye

seriously

Ignorant savages...

truth

doubt problem is iChat

As a side note

AOL AIM client does this

comments on iChat...

Two Comments

AIM and 10.2

that's it!

You're switching?

what do you expect...

You're switching?

I sent the information in

Longtime AIM Problem

iChat features

response to the response

r***** who replied to me

why macnn?

I don't go to macfixit

It does matter!!

Who needs IM?

Who needs chicken?

Do you

Why post bugs on MacNN?

Pirate!

Re: Who needs IM?

A purpose indeed

post if to apple

BOO YAH!

Hmmmmmm

Pirating 10.2????

aimtodestroy@hotmail.com

Two problems here...

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