…. actually it’s my woes with Pidgin, the IM client.
You see, I have been instant messaging for years and years, starting out with ICQ and later on I reluctantly moved to Messenger because all my nongeek friends started using that.
I tried out Trillian and some other multi-IM clients so I could be on ICQ and MSN at the same time, but as more and more people moved over to MSN I got tired of having double contacts of almost everyone, plus I got annoyed with Trillian’s constant breaking down on me and not being able to show the right emoticons etc, so I ended up just using MSN.
Ofcourse it helps with the tools you can find on the net that removes ads and stuff like that, so I actually started to like MSN.
One thing I especially like is the ‘personal message’. I am addicted to PM-ing. I love reading what other people decides to put there.
Sometimes it’s a little poem, a pun or a joke – other times it’s a fair warning of what you’re in for if you start chatting, like: “WHY DID SHE LEAVE ME?????” or “My parents just died ;..(” or a classic like “Why does my life suck?”.
At the moment I’m doing a campaign on TV-commercials; L’Oréal is the current victim:
“L’Oréal – Because you’re worthless” and “Oral – Because you’re worth it”.
At other times it’s stuff like “Stop the World spinning – I want off” or “Take a chance – Dream out loud!”.
Now, this is all great and fine, but now I’ve just started on a new job and here’s where my problem with Pidgin starts.
On my new job there’s a very strict policy on what we’re allowed to do with the computers there. For instance, the automatic update cannot be turned on for XP. And since the computer is installed with a VERY old version of MSN, it does not have the ability to show profile pictures which annoys the crap out of me so I won’t use it. And because the updates are a no-go, I cannot install the newest version of MSN. So now I only have the multi-IM clients as an alternative… and after about 3 seconds with Trillian I decided to use Pidgin instead.
Now I suddenly feel like the 3 monkeys that don’t see, hear or say anything. Because now I can’t see what people are writing in their PM, and I cannot write anything myself… I suddenly feel cut off from a part of the world where once I reigned as king… ok, that’s overdoing it, but you get my point.
Ofcourse I’ve been looking for a PM-plugin for Pidgin, but none exist – at least for the windows version – and the Pidgin community seems to be split in two: those who badly wants a PM plugin, but can’t make one – and those who can make one, but simply don’t get it; “‘Away’, ‘BRB’ and ‘Busy’ is already there, why would you need more?” -sigh!
So to help those who can do it, but can’t see the point; here’s some of the PM’s from my collection:
“To alcohol: The cause of – and solution to – all of life’s problems.”
- Homer J. Simpson
1984 – 3 seconds, 1992 – 6 seconds, 2007 – 3 minuttes and 47 seconds!
(I got a lot of attention with this one because people wanted to know what it was all about: It’s the startup time for my Commodore 64, my Amiga 1200 and my Packard Bell Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM and Windows XP Media Edition.)
In the land of the cyclops, the blind man is frowned upon.
\Ignore
Wink if yerrrrr’ a pirate!
And people did! – Aaaaarh!
If yerrrrr’ a pirate and ye ken it – clap yer hook!
Aaaaarh, ’tis right matie!
Dreams never fail me – it’s reality that lets me down.
“Romance is dead. It was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold off piece by piece.”
- Lisa Simpson
Always say always… Always!
Well, if you’re supposed to never say never, this should be the logical next step.
O, the possibilities are endless… I hope this may inspire a few plugin makers… if for no other reason then just to remind them that their friends might be mocking them in their private message – AND THE PLUGIN MAKERS ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN’T SEE IT! ;) – now THAT’S a motivator if I ever saw one!
