Yahoo! OUTRAGE!!!

[pinkcyclone]

So, if you have logged on to yahoo chat, you will see that they have abandoned java in favour of using their messenger service. A rubbish idea especially when you realise that yahoo chat is now only available on windows computers.

Yes its true - yahoo is abandoning its mac users and doesn't even have plans to upgrade its mac messenger to include the new chat room system windows users have been enjoying for years.

What an utter disgrace! There are at least 20 million mac users out there using the internet, and no doubt a vast majority of those 20 million people will be using yahoo - I know all my friends do.

So I'll be switching to msn until yahoo get their act together and I won't be clicking on any adverts in yahoo, nor will I be telling any of my friends about yahoo.

I'll be using it as little as possible in protest to their ignorance.

So do the same - make them suffer for their ignorance and maybe they will learn that they can't just cut off millions of users without consequence!

[pinkcyclone]

Well I've never been one to moan and do nothing so I've downloaded the latest version of fire. It's a multi-im client that can connect you with all your favourite im networks (msn yahoo) so you can connect to all your yahoo! friends without using yahoo.

http://fire.sourceforge.net/

[nixgeek]

While I haven't checked how well it supports Yahoo Messenger's other features, Adium does the job for me. It's a multi-protocol IM client like Trillian and Gaim and has a lot of nice features that Yahoo might not have.

You might never want to use the Yahoo client again. I haven't for years now thanks to Gaim on Linux & Windows and Adium on Mac OS X.

[pinkcyclone]

Thanks for that! I'm downloading it now and I'll give it a try.

Until I switched to the mac, I used yahoo and msn all the time and one thing I will note is that neither have adverts on the mac messenger, nor does yahoo mac have the stupid bt communicator (in the uk) which means the program size is considerably smaller and FASTER and much MUCH less intrusive! You could even go as far as saying they have taken the bloat out of their im's for the mac.

[texanpenguin]

The only thing I ever use Yahoo for is its cross-platform video chat (iChat to AIM chats are flaky for me) and pool (which is still Java).

That feature does not work in Adium. I now use iChat for everything (including Jabber for MSN)

[sinclair_tm]

i have never used yahoo. all my friends are on aim (ichat) or msn, both of which work fine for me on the mac. now there is a google talk, which app is win only, but they do have very detailed instructions on how to set up ichat to talk to your google talk friends. and it works for the most part. but it does have a habit of logging you off every 10-15min if none of your friends are on. but it is still beta.

[pinkcyclone]

Well I sent my little rant to yahoo and they gave me a reply - how helpful!!!

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Messenger.

Due to our ongoing efforts to enhance the user experience, Java-based
chat is no longer available from Yahoo! Chat (or Yahoo! Groups). We are
focusing on improvements to this service using the latest Yahoo!
Messenger chat technology, which the majority of our users prefer and is
available today. We have no plans to bring back the Java-based Chat.

Unfortunately the cancelletion of Java-based Chat will cause issues for
our Mac users. Although there is a DHTML version available, this version
does not work with Firefox. It only works with Internet Explorer. IE is
no longer supported by Mac. The other option available for accessing
chat is through Yahoo! Messenger, unfortunately, the version of
Messenger for Mac does not support chat.

We recognize that this is an inconvenience for all of our Mac users, we
are working on a solution for Mac users of Yahoo! Messenger now, however
we have no estimated date for this upgrade.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

[davebz]

I use Adium quite a bit, but I still have to load iChat for video conference. Supposedly the Adium team is working on integrating video, but alas, NEI (Not Enough Information) about when it will be in an update.