Why did apple drop ichat?

kevin_ wrote: ... Messages ... has all the features that iChat had...

Hello kevin_,

Your published "Products" list shows MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2). Is that current?

Can you do the equivalent of iChat Theater as shown in the following image?

I have not found a way to do this in OS X Messages. Theater is an iChat feature I sorely miss for sharing presentations and aiding collaboration activities during a video session in OS X Messages. If you have a way or a workaround, please tell me how you do it.

Cheers,

EZ Jim

Michel,

Messages and FaceTime are 2 seperate apps.

Take a look at this article. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH15061

As I stated I use messages on a daily basis and it still has all the features that iChat had. The app was just renamed.

kevin_ wrote: ... As far as the Theater goes, I never used that feature so I did not know that it was missing...

Thanks for that info, kevin_.

I hope that others like me who miss (iChat) Theater in the current implementation of Messages will join me in sending Feedback to Apple asking that the Theater function be added to Messages in the current OS X versions. If Theater functions can't be added to Messages, perhaps an iChat.app could be added while keeping Messages.app. Having a choice between the two apps would let us keep a current OS yet continue to use the valuable Theater sharing function while video chatting.

Skype group video chat is free within reasonable limits:

Group video calls are subject to a fair usage limit of 100 hours per month with no more than 10 hours per day and a limit of 4 hours per individual video call. Once these limits have been reached, the video will switch off and the call will convert to an audio call.

Details: http://www.skype.com/en/features/

banished,

Apple did not remove iChat from Mavericks, they just renamed the app to Messages. It has the same icon, and your settings will transfer to the new app without you having to do anything.

Messages besides having all of the abilities of iChat also include the ability to send text messages to iMessage users.

I hope that this helps in the confusion.

Kevin,

Messages in OS X Mavericks IS NOT the equivalent of iChat in OS X 10,5-10.6.

Measages is a text messenger app similar to other text messaging apps and works with other messaging apps like Yahoo Instant Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger.

Messages does NOT do any type of live video chatting.

iChat was a video call system similar to FaceTime, but you could have a video chat with up to 4 other iChat users.

It was far better in this respect than FaceTime which can only handle one-on-one video chat.

FaceTime, IMO, feels like s a downgrade from what iChat could do.

What are you talking about?

Get your facts straight.

This is from Apple's website from the Mavericks Apps lists and descriptions and app overviews.

Here is the overview description for Messages.

Messages on the Mac is more than instant messaging. It comes with iMessage, so you can send unlimited messages to anyone on a Mac or an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. You can even start a conversation on your Mac and pick it up on your iOS devices. If you want your friends to see when you’ve read their messages, just turn on read receipts. With end-to-end encryption, your messages stay safe and private. You can also send photos, videos, documents, and contacts to a friend or to a group, and see when your message has been delivered and when someone’s typing a reply. And Messages works seamlessly with Yahoo! Messenger and AIM, so you can keep up with conversations any way you like.

No mention of any live video chat features. You can send VIDEOS, but no live video chatting. Big Difference.

All right.

I have assumed Messages was for Messaging only.

I am going to go onto my Mac and boot my Mavericks system later to see if I can use this like FaceTime.

Why would Apple have two different apps to do live video chatting?

Can you live VIDEO chat with more than one person with Messages?

I will give this a try to confirm this as this capability is not mentioned anywhere in Apple's rather detailed info on Messages.

I have friends with Macs or iPads with Messages and I will test to see if It can live video chat with all of them.

Well,

So far Kevin, your assumptions are looking thin.

I am on my iPad and yes, you can record a video using my iPad's camera and put it into a Messages chat, but that is far from a real-time video chat and I have the feeling it is the same on Messages for OS X.

You can use, say a webcam or an iMac's camera to record a video and send it as part of a Messages chat, but this is not real-time video calling/chatting. It is more like sending pre-recorded video.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge about this will see this post and confirm if you can do live, real time FaceTime video chatting through the Messges app.

I have a strong feeling that the Messages App is not a real time video chat app.

Why would Apple have Messages AND FaceTime for live, real time video chatting.

It doesn't make sense.

WOW!!!

WOW!!!!

My apologies to you!

Apple doesn't mention ANY of this in their overview of Messages/iMessage.

AND it looks like you CAN do multiple live video chats!!!!

Yeah!!!!

This is pretty cool

Thanks for finding this link!

This well help the OP and has, definitely, been of help and info to me!

I have been using Mavericks on and off for three months now and never gave the Messages app any thought of using this for video chatting.

This is good info to be aware of now.

Again, my apologies and humble ThanX!

😉

How?

It is no longer an app that is installed as part of the overall OS install.

Just like no longer having Front Row. It is no longer part of the OS X install

I am not sure if you can simply drag it over from a Leopard or Snow Leopard partition and Application folder into the Application folder of a OS X Mavericks partition or an external hard drive Mavericks install.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for mentioning my products, I just updated it. I had to replace my old MBP with a new one cause of the graphics card issue that they had (thanks AppleCare).

As far as the Theater goes, I never used that feature so I did not know that it was missing. Besides the normal video chats, I use the screen sharing feature a lot.

For the same reasons they discontinued the Front Row App, bulit -in CD/DVD optical drives, IR remote controlled Macs and digital audio inputs on most Mac models...because they can!

Do not pay any attention to what engineer has posted.

This person is a scammer and a troll.

Do not click on his link.

This person is out to get something from you.

Possibly your personal info.