iChat on Leopard - Wow!
Just had a look at the showcase video for the new version of Mac OSX - Leopard - and I’m quite impressed. Preliminary news reports have deemed this new version “an evolution rather than a revolution” and based upon what I’ve just seen in the video I agree with their assessments - and yet the improvements that Apple has made to iChat in particular are phenomenal.
They’ve taken what was an already excellent IM video chat program and turned it into a web conferencing tool that is on par with any of the major server side software programs out there - including Adobe Connect (formerly Macromedia Breeze). The options to share desktops, files and videos are absolutely stunning, and in typical Apple fashion they’ve done it with both style and usability as well.
The main issue will be its capacity to operate cross platform, or cross version with previous incarnations of OSX. If the bulk of iChat’s functionality is restricted to the Leopard platform - as it has historically been with Tiger - it will pose a substantial barrier for uptake.
Like it or not, Microsoft still dominates the personal computer realm. Mac is definitely catching up; but even so you’re talking about a brand new operating system as well. So users running Tiger will only be able to do so much with iChat as well.
The other consideration is bandwidth. This is an issue for any type of web conferencing as sharing documents and desktops in particular require a substantial amount of grunt under the bonnet of your web connection. However in the case of the previous version of iChat for example, their compression was high enough that it could accommodate most high-speed web connections - be they home or office - and importantly the video quality was not compromised in the process.
There is a lot to like about the Leopard and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy for a test run, and yet my interest in the iChat web conferencing functionality is paramount. I’m seriously impressed with what they’ve done there.
More information on Mac OSX 10.5 “Leopard” here.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I have it but never use it that often on my leopard as I am using Skype and http://www.gomeetnow.com combination for conferencing and chats with my friends and confidential meetings with clients and seniors at company. But fact is its been lot more comfortability in communications at Leopard than at Pc with vista..
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