Instant messaging on ibook?

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hey,

The ibook comes with instant messaging software right??


I have a few questions about this that I hope someone can help me out with:

Can I only have IM conversations with other people who have macs??

Will I be able to chat to people who use yahoo! and msn messenger through my apple instant messaging??


Also..... is a .mac membership worth the $100 for the year??
I use gmail already. :mail:

Thanks
 
J

Jason

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Macs come with iChat. There are Mac versions of yahoo and msn messengers, though I don't think those can be used through iChat. I believe iChat only works through AIM.

I plan on getting .Mac for the simple fact that it's so integrated, and will make it quick & easy for me to build/maintain a website for baby pictures for my family to download :D
 
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Regular AIM for Mac is HIGHLY outdated. It looks ridiculously ugly and still has all of those stupid ads and annoying sound effects.
You definitely want AdiumX...
 
J

Jordan

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What email?

What about finding a email server that works well with Mac Mail? I have my .mac account for myself and of course it works great. But, there really isn't much use for her to use a .mac account due to the cost. What email programme is the best to use in this case?

Jordan
 
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Jordan said:
What about finding a email server that works well with Mac Mail? I have my .mac account for myself and of course it works great. But, there really isn't much use for her to use a .mac account due to the cost. What email programme is the best to use in this case?

Jordan

Many email services work well with Mail. I don't personally use Mail since I prefer just using the web-based interfaces, but Gmail is my client and it's definitely compatible with Mail if I ever wanted to use it.
 
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Most mail accounts are compatible with Mail. As long as they have either POP3 support or imap support you should be good.
 
J

Jordan

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That's good to know. However, I had to get a plug in to link my hotmail account and I am still only able to read my hotmail-emails in Mac Mail - not able to send from my hotmail account when using Mail. My girlfriend is not so computer confident just yet so I want something that is easy and painless for her but that will work well with Mail. So, is Gmail the way to go? What is that short for "Gangsta Mail"?

Word.

Jordan
 
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Gmail is short for Google Mail. And yes it should work since Gmail does POP3 but it then just ruins the whole point of having 1gb of storage space.

Doesn't your ISP give e-mail accounts?
 
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GMail is good, or try any of the other free mail services that support POP.

www.gmx.com is also very good and reliable.
 
K

kingcrowing2

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my friend has a website... so i got a pop3 account from him and that works really well. also, about ichat... you can use an AIM account on it so you can talk to anyone with a .mac account or AIM through ichat, plus its just looks so good!
 
I

iDVFH.

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when I first got my Mac I thought iChat was the only AIM available for Mac. But my friend told me you can get AIM with a similar look to the Windows version (of course so much nicer) but I would download AIM 4.7 (I think it is)
 
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AIM on Mac is horrible....it's horrible on Windows. Stick with iChat or try out Proteus which is what I use.
 
I

iDVFH.

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the only thing i hate about ichat is the way the buddy list is setup..and with your question about if you can chat with people who only have macs..except for this forum you wouldnt really have many people to talk to if it was that way lol...i dont think mac would be that dumb
 
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schweb said:
AIM on Mac is horrible....it's horrible on Windows. Stick with iChat or try out Proteus which is what I use.

Hey, AIM's not so bad for Windows if you use Aimutation...of course this still doesn't account for the base UI sucking. And the extremely poor backward compatibility....You're right. It sucks.
 
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Jordan said:
That's good to know. However, I had to get a plug in to link my hotmail account and I am still only able to read my hotmail-emails in Mac Mail - not able to send from my hotmail account when using Mail.

What plugin do you use that only lets you read mail... that must blow. :D Try this one it lets you do most everythin, even some basic syncing.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/httpmail-plugin/
 
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psychoschematic

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There is also one called Proteus which is like iChat but works with aim, msn, yahoo, and ICQ.(Maybe More) So all you need is this one IM Program and you are able to chat with anyone from you mac. Has the look and feel of iChat. I use it and it works great, not as powerfull as iChat but good. Get it here:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12319
 
J

Jordan

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Hi there,

I currently have a trial account on .Mac but I just don't have the extra cash to get a full subscription after my trial runs out. However, I would like to use iChat afterwards. But I'm not sure I have everything straight - after my .Mac trial runs out, will I need to make an AIM account to use iChat?

Many thanks,

Jordan
 
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yeah you will be able to use ichat through an aim name. i am not sure if you will be able to continue to use your .mac name though.
 

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