Jabber Client ready for Shift Staff


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Neowin Jabber Server

I am pleased to announce that Marshalus has set up the Neowin Jabber Server for us to use.

For those of you unfamiliar with what Jabber (also called XMPP) is, here a brief description from Jabber.org:

Jabber is best known as "the Linux of instant messaging" -- an open, secure, ad-free alternative to consumer IM services like AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo. Under the hood, Jabber is a set of streaming XML protocols and technologies that enable any two entities on the Internet to exchange messages, presence, and other structured information in close to real time.

Some of the advantages to using this tool as opposed to traditional IM networks are (bits of this are also ripped from Jabber.org):

1. The Jabber protocols are free, open, public, and easily understandable. This allows you to select what client you want to use and basic functionality will exist with most any of them. We can also use this to our advantage and in the future create our own Neowin client and roll it out to our visitors. Neobond and I have discussed a integrated news/forum reader and IM communications platform all based around an @neowinim.net address, but that is a while down the road.

2. The architecture of the Jabber network is similar to email; as a result, anyone can run their own Jabber server, enabling individuals and organizations to take control of their IM experience. In the future, our Jabber address will be able to communicate with other networks like Google Talk or any other ?federated? IM server.

3. All communications on the Neowin Jabber Server are encrypted by a 128-bit TLS/SSL key. Also when you talk on our server it goes directly to the server and to the other Shift staff member. Only staff will have access to discussions taking place through our server.

4. Our server software, Wildfire, allows us to maintain a centralized buddy list. This means that when new staff are hired and added into the system they are instantly added to every staff members rosters. No more waiting and gathering MSN addresses and updating for every change. If something changes, I update the server and push it out to everyone.

Client Choices

Because, as I mentioned, Jabber is an open standard you have many options when it comes to clients and there is no intention of changing this. Unlike MSN or AIM which can at anytime shut off access to Trillian, GAIM, Miranda, etc, the entire point of Jabber is to allow users a choice. We?re all computer geeks who love to customize and accessorize and so take your pick of the client that suits you best.

I personally use a client called Pandion when connecting from a Windows box and GAJIM when accessing Jabber from my Linux box. Pandion is very light weight, features plugins, and has a very easy to use interface. GAJIM is based off of GAIM and has tight integration with GTK+ so it has a nice native Linux/GNOME interface. GAJIM has also been ported to Windows if are using both and want some consistency, however the Windows GTK+ interface for it is a little boring in my opinion.

Another good client is Spark, which is made by the same people that make our Wildfire server software so it features near perfect integration with the features offered by our server. It?s cross platform Windows/Linux/OSX and has a very nice interface. However it runs off Java so it uses a little bit more memory than other clients.

Trillian Pro has a plug-in to allow access to Jabber, but we?re having mixed results with it in testing. It currently has issues connecting to the multi-user chat (conference rooms) on our server. When you tell it to connect to a room it gives an error, but if you?re invited into the room by a current user it works without a hitch.

GAIM and Miranda also seem to work fine for most people. Adium is a good OS X client and iChat as of Tiger has Jabber support built in. iChat however does not support conference rooms. PSI is also a good cross platform client with near perfect XMPP standards compatibility, but the interface is a little overwhelming at first.

My recommended listing of clients with links:

* Pandion (Windows) -- http://www.pandion.be

* PSI (Windows/Linux) -- http://www.psi-im.org

* Gajim (Windows/Linux) -- http://www.gajim.org

* Spark (Windows/Linux/OSX) -- http://jivesoftware.org/spark

* Adium (OSX) -- http://www.adiumx.com

* GAIM (Windows/Linux) -- http://gaim.sourceforge.net

If you have a client you really like please share it with us.

A (nearly) full listing of clients can be found the Jabber.org website at http://www.jabber.org/software/clients.shtml

The biggest thing about this is that I don't personally care what client you use. Just use it wink.gif

Connecting

When connecting to our server, you?ll need the following information in most clients:

* Jabber ID (JID): your user name (all lower case, no spaces)

* Password: again, your user name (change password this as soon a you login!)

* Server: neowin.net

If you need any help getting into a client, I would suggest looking at http://www.google.com/talk/otherclients.html and seeing the settings they use. If you substitute the values I gave you above for the ones from gtalk it should work fine.

Enjoy!

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Cool, Barney!

Just one thing, where you say:

* Jabber ID (JID): your user name (all lower case, no spaces)

I tried all lower case 'james7' and it didn't work. I tried my normal 'James7' and it did.

Note: This may be down to me using Gajim and its login setup.

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Cool, Barney!

Just one thing, where you say:

I tried all lower case 'james7' and it didn't work. I tried my normal 'James7' and it did.

Note: This may be down to me using Gajim and its login setup.

That's odd, your username in the system shows james7

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I like the idea! Will we use this instead of IRC?

WHAT??? I have to learn another technology??? :blink:

We'll probably use both :D

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