To All My Friends!

by Mr. Bad

2000-01-17 01:39:31

Weird Linux

Hey, so you know those dorky-ass instant messenger programs like AIM and ICQ and stuff? And how dumb they are? You know? Well, OK, they're only kinda dumb. OK, I use them a lot. THERE, I SAID IT.

What I love about Linux developers is that they go OVER THE TOP with everything. Like, it's never enough to make a program that EMULATES or STRIVES to MIMIC an existing Windows or Macintosh or whatever program. With Linux folks, it's got to be DIFFERENT, it has to be BETTER, and it has to be SHITHOUSE CRAZY.

Take, for example, this Everybuddy program (link at the bottom of the page). Instead of creating a little thinger that you can use to send dorko instant messages to your ICQ friends, or to your AIM friends, the crazy-ass Everybuddy development team made it so you can use it to send stuff to ALL your friends. Bitchen!

For me, personally, it's one of the main reasons I don't use the ICQ so much. Too many people use that AIM, and there's a growing number who use quirky small services like MSN or Yahoo!. So Everybuddy is real cool -- you get the same interface and contact list for all yer little pals, without having to switch between programs or whatever.

Admittedly, Everybuddy still needs a little work. The UI could be more streamlined, and it only gives you lowest-common-denominator functionality on each service, so it's kind of remedial. Oh, and it doesn't have an IRC back end. BUT, the whole thing's a step in the right direction and I must give warm cries of "beaujolais!" to the doughty developers.

The best part is that it's built on GTK, the world's greatest UI. Yay for GNOME! Yay for GTK! Yay for Everybuddy!

Check it out yourself

ixian@pigdog.org