Dump AIM/ICQ/MSN/Y! and join the BitWise revolution!

[KevinMU1]

Hello all,

My roommate and I finally got sick of all the AIM vs. Trillian battles and all of the code bloat that's occurred in these huge chat clients and decided to write our own chat service with an all new server and an all new client. Which is what we've been doing for the past 6 weeks. We've got basic functionality, plus a few luxuries, like offline messaging and invisibility, and we're looking to create a moderate-size test group.

The ultimate advantage to being involved is that you get to help us shape the future of this service through your suggestions. We're very active right now in development and very responsive, and are just looking for some help with testing and thinking about new things to add, and what features should be added first. (Plus the normal bug fixes.) Especially features that don't yet exist in any chat services, we have a couple of good ideas up our sleeves.

The web site for the project is http://www.bitwisechat.com. You have to request a username, this allows us to keep our user base manageable, although right now we are still actively seeking a decent number of users. Please bear in mind we are college students and don't man the terminals 24/7, but we'll respond ASAP to any requests or emails. So grab a few friends, have them sign up, and give it a try! Who knows, it may just be the next big thing.

Thanks in advance!

Kevin

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

sure, I wouldn't mind participating. Sounds like a fun exercise.

 

[Rallispec]

i'm in


everyone post you're user names when you sign up so that we have people to talk to when we're testing it out

 

[Rallispec]

i just signed up.. how long should it take to get my password emailed to me?

 

[KevinMU1]

I everyone... my roommate is the one handling the user requests, and he's at class now, but by 1 pm I should think you'll have your accounts activated. You will receive an email when your request has been processed.

FYI: We are currently implementing profiles, message sounds, and an overhauled mini-profile box... we're shooting for a major new feature or 2 each week, with possibly mid-week releases for small bug fixes.

Thanks everyone for your interest!!!! I hope that this can be fun for everyone.

 

[mundania]

could you put up some screenshots? i don't see any on the page.

 

[DanFungus]

sure--ill do it when i get home

 

[KevinMU1]

mundania--good idea. We'll see if we can make some and get those up today.

 

[Ameesh]

it doesnt eliminate the fact that most of my retard friends use AIM and wont leave it if a gun was out to their head.

tirllian has been working fine for the last month, good luck though.

 

[KevinMU1]

Well, your retard friends will leave AIM when eventually they start missing out on the next coolest thing.

And yes, Trillian has been working fine, but who knows for how long. Plus, I'm still annoyed with Trillian's bloat and whatnot, so this is a way to combat all sorts of problems. Plus we can get the features WE want.

Trust me, we have one feature that I think will blow everyone out of the water, it may be a bit yet before it's implemented, but as it gets closer we'll start to disclose. It's gonna be significant, I think.

 

[Rallispec]

well.. i'm not sure if my freinds will ever be convinced enough to switch from AIM... so i'll always be using it..

but this sounds cool so i'm still gonna try and help out as much as i can.. already requested my username, i'll downlaod it later today when i get out of class.. it sounds really cool and looks like it has some potential to be good.

 

[yakko]

So how are you going to provide a network that will allow millions of people to be on at once?

 

[KevinMU1]

One other note: please read the FAQ before using, especially the bit about firewalls/routers... we use direct connects and so if ports are closed things won't work quite right, although nothing bad will happen. This is especially been noticable for users who are on cable or DSL and use a router to share a connection in their house/apartment--you'll need to statically forward certain ports to your PC. We are implementing a proxy that will take care of this issue, but that' won't be ready for a bit.

 

[KevinMU1]

When we have millions of users, then we'll worry about the network that will be necessary to support them. One of those bridges to cross when we get there.

 

[Rallispec]

bump

installing it now

 

[bleeb]

Show some pretty pictures of the interface.... although its terminal? ... people might still like to see how easy/difficult it is to use.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Add me once you get logged on:

YamahaXS

 

[johneetrash]

im online.. my nick is raycer

 

[johneetrash]

can we post suggestions here? one would be to have an option to only minimize in the system tray only and not in the taskbar... i like when programs do that

 

[KevinMU1]

As for suggestions / bugs, PLEASE use the form on the main web site http://www.bitwisechat.com so that we have them all in one centralized location. There is a field for feature suggestions when submitting a bug report. This will be the easiest for us and it lets everyone have one central place to see bugs / feature requests from all users. THANKS!!!

And yes, we'll add some screen shots to the site.

 

[ndee]

/me wants the password to download it

I registered.

 

[Rallispec]

add Rallispec to your buddy list

 

[ndee]

add "ndee" to your buddy list

 

[spazntwich1]

Well, I'm in because I'm on spring break with nothing else to do.

I wish you all the best of luck. Everyone using an open IM standard would make me happy.

 

[Lalakai]

toss my name in the hat; always enjoy being the scout