Re: Module proposal for gnome 2.5

["John (J5) Palmieri" <johnp martianrock com>]

On Mon, 2003-10-06 at 15:58, Dominic Howells wrote:
> On Mon, 2003-10-06 at 20:05, Reinout van Schouwen wrote: 
> > On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Jean-Michel Ardantz wrote:
> > 
> > > - Totem assuming that we will have a gstreamer version providing full
> > > video and dvd facilities (including interactivity support).
> > 
> > Agreed completely. The same goes for gossip (IM client).
> 
> Please no. Gossip is not a IM solution. It's too hung up on only
> supporting Jabber and not MSN, AIM, ICQ, which is what people _actually_
> need. Gnome is trying to be a complete desktop and that means (a) As
> much stuff that is on everyones desktop as possible and (b) No useless
> crap.
>From what I understand:

* Jabber is very usefull for corporations.
* Jabber has gateways for other protocols from the server.
* Gossip aims to give users an gnome integrated IM client
* With Gaim's UI/Core split Gossip is looking to incorporate other
protocols with the client while giving a more integrated experience.

but

* They don't want to make the mess of protocols too confusing to new
users so this will take time and carful planning.

Whether or not it will be ready for 2.6 is for the release team to
decide.  I for one don't see any harm in targeting it for that though.  

> 
> Gossip is useless to many/most people (the end users not devs) because
> it doesnt support their favourite client. I know jabber may be better
> but I for example dont use it cos no one I know uses it. And look at the
> precedent set for proprietary or non-standard support:
Eeek. We need to stop throwing around the word proprietary.  Proprietary 
has to do with exclusive rights of ownership, not popularity of a protocol.
Unless you are talking about the other protocols.  It is not realy clear
in your statement.  If that were the case then that an argument for
switching to Jabber.
 

> - Epiphany supports closed-source/proprietary plugins
> - Stock-ticker parses a website for its data
> - The GIMP reads and writes GIF and JPEG
> - Totem plays Windows Media, DVDs, etc, loads of proprietary stuff.

Oh ok. Understood.

> Unless we are on an anti-proprietary crusade as a matter of policy (as
> in deliberately not supporting it) then we shouldnt start it with this
> IM client.

Well, pretty soon we may not be able to use Yahoo and MSN since they are
starting to block out 3rd party software.  If they are successfull look
for AOL and ICQ to follow. We need to make open protocols easier to use
than the propriary ones.

> Also, gaim now has addressed most of the reasond for which gossip was
> started.

Not realy and with the Gaim UI/Core split it makes this moot.   Gossip
can continue to evolve as a Gnome integrated client and Gaim does not
have to be tethered down by the need to be Gnome complient.  I remeber
when there was much rejoicing by the gaim team when they could strip all
the gnome code out of the main sources and place the code in an optional
plugin (panel applet).

I agree gossip should not become part of core Gnome with only Jabber
support but if they get it in I think it would be the best choice out of
any IM client.

--
J5