Re: [Gaim-devel] Making it easier to add GTalk accounts by prepopulating the server settings fields

[Ethan B. <ebl...@cs...>]

Jason Spiro spake unto us the following wisdom:
> On 2006-06-16, Kevin M Stange <ke...@si...> wrote:
> > I think it's unwise to add lots of special cases where we don't have to.
> >  Google has instructions on how to set up Google Talk with third party
> > clients on their web site.  We have a FAQ entry as well.  I don't think
> > adding this magic is really justified.
>=20
> Nobody wants to read the docs, and even if this is a special case, it is
> an extremely common one. Would it make the code that much harder to
> maintain? If I were to submit a good patch, would it really be rejected?

I think you're misapprehending a) how much we care about people who
are too lazy to read documentation, b) how common this case is, and c)
the point of why we aren't doing it.  In any case, as my other email
says (which was held up for some time due to mail problems, you should
get it approximately at the same time as this one), this problem is
obviated in the 2.0 betas.

> > This is more special casing and I don't think this is true.  Google Talk
> > is relatively new, and it seems unlikely they have more active users
> > than the balance of jabber servers that have been around for many years.
> >
> You'd be surprised how many Gmail users there are. And at least a few
> percent of those users use GTalk.

Yes, but most of those users don't use Gaim.  I *really* doubt that
Google Talk makes up the bulk of Gaim jabber usage.  It is probably a
non-negligible percentage, true.  In any case, it doesn't matter how
many people use it.  A lot of people use Windows, that doesn't make it
not suck.  Google Talk may not suck, but special-casing it in Gaim
does.

> > Your argument that changing the name of the Jabber plugin will increase
> > Linux adoption is amusing, though.
> >
> You never know. :) Gaim is the default instant messenger preinstalled
> with Ubuntu.

We don't want anyone who chooses their operating system based on its
IM clients.  Seriously.

Ethan

--=20
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764