e20 – Adium

This episode we explore the history of Adium, the venerable open-source messaging app for OS X. We trace the evolution of the duck, get Ed's obscure feature requests implemented, and eventually move all our chat needs to iOS.

followup

• theories about the new iTunes icon
• 32-bit icon editors
  • Icon Machine
  • Iconographer
  • Icon Builder
• Eyeballs.js

Adium

• instant messaging application for OS X
• is it [eɪdiəm] or [ædiəm]?
• AOL Instant Messenger
  • for classic Mac OS
  • bad reviews for OS X version
  • iChat
• extremely lightweight, ~1MB download [WayBack Machine]
• tab and window organization
  • Fitt's law
  • organize tabs into windows by group

• Adium soundsets
  • Tokyo Train Station
  • Super Mario World
  • removal of AIM sounds
• Adium 2.0 / Adium X
  • GAIM (later Pidgin)
  • LibGaim (later libpurple)
• multi-protocol support
  • AIM vs. MSN
  • Jabber / XMPP
  • Jabber-based Facebook Chat
• Adiumy icon and character

• custom message styles
  • variant of Ed's Kill Bill theme
• Stattoo
• Growl
• YoruFukurou twitter client