Adium

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Adium X
Screenshot of Adium
Maintainer:	Adium team, led by Evan Schoenberg and Chris Forsythe, created by Adam Iser
Stable release:	1.0.2 (March 25, 2007) _[+/-]
Preview release:	none (N/A) _[+/-]
OS:	Mac OS X
Use:	Instant messaging client
License:	GPL
Website:	www.adiumx.com

Adium is a popular instant messaging client for Mac OS X that supports multiple protocols through the libgaim library. It is written using Mac OS X's Cocoa API, and it is released under the free software GNU General Public License.

1 History
2 Protocols
3 Plugins and customizability
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Adium was originally created by college student Adam Iser, and the first version, "Adium 1.0", was released in September 2001. This version supported only AOL Instant Messenger. The version numbers of Adium since then have followed a somewhat unusual pattern. There were several upgrades to Adium 1.0, ending with Adium 1.6. At this point, the Adium team began a complete rewrite of the Adium code expanding it into a multiprotocol messaging program. The Adium team intended for this to be Adium 2.0. It was eventually decided that, due to the major differences between Adium 1.0 and the rewritten version, the entire program would be renamed "Adium X." The version numbering began with the pre-release version "Adium X 0.50" and continued through the released version Adium X 0.89.1. However, the team finally decided to change the name back to "Adium", and as such "Adium 1.0" was released on February 2, 2007. Its largest improvement was switching to libgaim to add support for IM protocols other than AIM; supported protocols now include ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and Jabber/XMPP (including Google Talk). Most of the work on libgaim itself is done by the Gaim team; the Adium team mostly works on the Adium X graphical user interface (GUI).

The development can be followed at Adium's trac page. The most significant change in Adium 1.0 was originally planned to be the switch from libgaim to joscar for implementing AIM, which would improve file transfer. However, the developers have switched back to libgaim due to Apple's deprecation of the Java-Cocoa bridge.

Adium has become so well known in the Macintosh community that Apple used Adium 0.89.1's build time in Xcode 2.3 as a benchmark for comparing the performance of the Mac Pro and PowerMac G5 Quad.^[1]

[edit] Protocols

Adium supports encryption through Off-the-Record Messaging. The left window shows messages as received by iChat, while the decrypted conversation can be seen on the right

Adium X supports the following account types:

[edit] Plugins and customizability

Adium makes use of a plugin architecture; many of the program's essential features are actually provided by plugins. A built-in plugin provides support for the rendering of LaTeX math expressions during conversations. Other features in the newest version include support for file transfer, support for the Growl notifications system, and support for encrypted messaging with the Off-the-Record Messaging library. Adium 0.88 was the first version compiled as a universal binary, making it run natively with Intel-based Macs.

Adium is also highly customizable through the use of resources its developers call "Xtras". The program can be customized by the use of hundreds of third-party Xtras that alter the appearance of emoticons, Dock icons, contact list styles, and messages styles. Adium can also be enhanced through the use of different sound sets. AppleScripts can also be utilized to automatically alter behavior in responses to certain triggers.

Adium also used to have a fork project, called "Metal Adium".^[2] This version used iLife's "Polished Metal" theme instead of the default Aqua and was maintained by Michael Barca and Andrew Nesbitt. It has been discontinued.^[3]