Funpidgin Released, Fixes Crippled Pidgin Feature

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

It's rare to see an open-source application split up into two parts of a "fork", but Pidgin is one such victim. Late last month, arguments between the development staff over a controversial feature forced one side to split off and develop a version that should be developed.

The feature in question was the auto-resizing of the text entry area. Instead of allowing the user the option to switch between a manually controlled text area or the new version (which increased in size as you typed), they forced the new version on everyone, without any desire to consider giving people the option.

This has to be one of the stupidest reasons for a fork, but it is one problem that annoyed me quite a bit, so I can certainly understand the frustration. At first I thought my client was broken, but when I found out it was actually a feature, I went back to the old version. Now, that doesn't have to be the case, as Funpidgin pre-installs with the plugin needed for resizing, as well as a few other things.

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What makes us different from the official client, is that we work for you. Unlike the Pidgin developers, we believe the user should have the final say in what goes into the program. So far five new features have been added to Funpidgin upon requests from users, and all of them are optional. It is these options that make the use of Funpidgin enjoyable to a diverse range of people.

Source: Funpidgin, Via: DownloadSquad
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[slugbug]

I might give it a shot. I'm currently using aMSN.

 

[Kougar]

I gave up on Pidgin after putting up with it for around a year or so. File transfers are borked for ICQ, and the program just loves to crash if given a chance. Most often when someone attempts to initiate a file transfer. And thanks to MSN pegging file transfer speeds so low, that just leaves YIM and AIM services. I miss the HTML logging and some of the settings Trillian lacks, but I use Trillian again. I might give Miranda another try though.

Did they ever update the ICQ protocols on Pidigin? I know instantly when I'm chatting with a Pidgin user, because Trillian gives a warning about them using outdated ICQ protocols.

 

[Rob Williams]

I have no problem with file transfers with AIM or MSN, although they are a little slow. I believe that to be more with the distance of friends than the protocol though.

I can't speak for ICQ since I haven't used it since 2001. I had no idea it was still being used by so many people.

Here's another client that looks kind of interesting:

http://www.digsby.com/

I haven't tested it out since it's not for Linux, but it is due for that and also Mac OS X. Looks pretty solid.

 

[Kougar]

The MSN service routes all transfers through their servers.. so they can monitor or do whatever they want with the data. That is why they tend to be slower than anyone else.

I rarely have issues with AIM and Pidigin, but that's unfortunately the exception more than the rule with other IMs and Pidigin.

I've never heard of Digsby... thanks for the link! I'll be checking that one out...

 

[Rob Williams]

I've had great luck with AIM and Pidgin, but have not had the best luck with MSN. Though, I am unsure if it's actually Pidgin or the MSN servers though. I regularly get "Message could not go through" type of errors, which is incredibly annoying.

Another problem is that once in a while, even though I'm still online, I'll appear offline to other people. In order to be able to message people, or show as online again, I need to relog. I'm going to assume that this one is a Pidgin issue.

I moved over to GAIM/Pidgin quite a while ago, since Kopete for Linux got on my nerves quick, and I've loved it for the most part. But these constant problems and now a retarded fork are making me wonder why I'm still using it.

If you happen to use Digsby, let me know what you think of it. Could be a while before it's available in Linux, but patience is one thing I occasionally have.

 

[Kougar]

Hah! That's pretty interesting to know, because I have a friend of mine that uses MSN via Pidgin (my fault because I was pushing Pidgin as a better alternative), and has those exact same issues. In fact I started noticing them myself, which was the final straw for me.

I also was using it when it used to be called gAIM, but whatever happened to the app since then makes me think they should have kept the original name. AIM is about the only service it is still good with.

At first I didn't see anything that stood out with Digsby, however now I realize actually being able to login to a single account from any computer and have the exact same front-end access to the myriad of IM services with all my confirugation settings already intact, set up, and configured is beyond useful... it's a huge time saver. I need more time to see how it works, but so far my opinion is getting better of it... I need to see how it handles logs as well, if goes as far as to consolidate them I may be sold on it. There is also no end to the wide ranging types of themes and layout selections both to select from.

 

[Enigmachine]

Time to look for a new integrated IM I guess! I've been using Pidgin for a while now and this fork really makes me think that the Pidgin managers are tools.

Also, it's about as stable as a biped. Try to do anything outside its stable core and it just falls over.

Guess it's back to Trillian for me?

 

[James Crysis]

I've been using pidgin for a while after I saw my brother using it and although it's a hell of alot better than MSN for me in many aspects, there were a few problems like you guys mentioned above. Now after hearing about this fork, I'm definately going to go home and check out some alternatives. Digsby looks really nice. What other clients are there out there for MSN? The only ones I've used and even heard of before reading this thread was MSN and Pidgin.

P.S. It is available on Linux and Mac now. When you click on the download link on the home page it gives you the option.

 

[Kougar]

I highly recommend Digsby. I still have some testing to do with it, but I won't ever go back to Trillian or Miranda now, let alone Pidgin.

I can install the software on any computer, type in my username+password, and automatically have my IM program up and running exactly as configured just as if I was using my home computer. Just about the only thing it DOESN'T do is import logs, those unfortunately are kept on the local machine for obvious security reasons I guess.

Digsby is very customizable, nothing on the interface can't be changed or modified in some way to suit your preferences. It will take some trial and error to find the setup you like though.