Got Gaim?--an Open-source Option

We have chosen to write our white paper on the open-source program, Gaim. The title we are considering for this white paper is Got Gaim?--an Open-source Option. We have noted another white paper on the OSDDP site that covers GAIM, as well as a revision of that document. These documents are found at http://osddp.org/node/529. Gaim is a free multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) system for Windows, MacOS X, Linux, and BSD. It was originally written by Mark Spencer for Unix-like operating systems. Gaim users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks at the same time; meaning that one can chat with a friend on Yahoo messenger and talk to another friend on MSN while using the same IM program. Gaim supports the following messengers: AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, Zephyr, OpenNAP, Internet Relay Chat, Rendezvous, and possibly many more as the program progresses. Gaim supports many known features of your regular IMs, such as file transfer, away messages, typing notification, and it also offers spell checking, tabbed conversations, a buddy ticker, window transparency and much more than your common IMs offer. Gaim is under constant development, and new releases come out every third Thursday, if it meets a certain standard of quality; i.e. not a large number of serious bugs in it. As far as we know, developers are working to perfect their latest version of Gaim and they say that it is just around the corner.

We believe that Gaim is the best messenger to use as compared to all the others. The main reason for this thought is due to the fact that not everybody has the same messenger. Some people have MSN, some have AIM, and some have ICQ or Yahoo. Some people have all of those messengers, because certain people that they associate with have one messenger and others have different messengers. Gaim is an open-source program that will take all of your messengers that you have and put them into one program. Therefore, you can chat with the different messengers all at once while not being forced to have multiple messenger programs open in order to accomplish this task. You can also manipulate the program to the way you want it, because you have access to the program’s code. Another great part of the program, Gaim, is that you do not have the advertisements that other messengers have. When you open it, there is not a pop up screen that has the daily news or advertisements that normal messengers have. That lowers the risk of obtaining a virus or tracking cookies from those advertisements. You also do not have to worry about an ad popping up when your mouse goes over the advertisement inside the messenger, like on AIM.

The target audience for this project will be all members of an educational/business community such as Purdue. This target audience was selected for several reasons. These reasons are based basically on the features and benefits that a software program, such as Gaim, might bring to a community such as the previously mentioned. First off, Purdue University is a community that incorporates students from all over the world and in different cultures people use different internet communication devices. Gaim might help incorporate all different messengers enabling a smoother multicultural communication. Moreover, it might also bring benefits to the computer’s performance. Technicians in charge of the computer infrastructure within the entity would be interested in a program that could do this. From the business stand point, the software might help improve communications with clients and within the company itself. A white paper that mentions and analyzes such software would bring information to such an audience enabling them to gain knowledge and further insight on the topic. By showing the software’s pros and cons, and comparing it to other similar and more commonly used software, the reader could make a decision on which software to use in the environment that they belong.

Sources for researching our topic will mainly be online sources. Since Gaim is not as popular as other instant messaging programs it would be hard to find books and other references from a library to do research. For our white paper we will be comparing Gaim to other more popular instant messaging programs such as: AIM, ICQ, MSN messenger and the others we have mentioned. To find information while researching, we will view the websites that correspond with these messengers. Also we will get information about Gaim from websites that correspond with this program. While viewing these sites we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of each instant messaging program that the makers have found with each respective program. Many of the advantages and disadvantages will not appear on these websites, so we are going to view forums and other posts that correspond to the programs. In viewing these forums we will find advantages and disadvantages that were found by the actual users of each program. This will give us a lot of information that we would not have if we just viewed the designers’ websites. These forums will also give us a lot of incite into how to capture the attention of our target audience.

Instant messaging has become largely accepted by both individuals and the business world. While it is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, it is becoming a more predominant way for businesses to use as a tool for contacting clients. As we have previously discussed, a problem arises from the instance that one or more parties use different instant messaging programs. Our target audience has a need for a program which can incorporate multiple instant messaging protocols into one user interface. A program such as this could be learned and used now to help open further opportunities in the future. Gaim is one such program. Due to the facts that Gaim is completely free, open-source, and user friendly, many companies and people can benefit from it. The use of Gaim also contributes to a larger movement of open-source programs. The adoption of Gaim by a company or person broadens the use of open-source software. This not only increases the popularity of open-source software, but it encourages the use and customization of such programs. As companies began to apply efforts to customize open-source software to their needs, people will begin to explore the endless possibilities associated with other similar programs.

Kyle Allen
Kyle Bergman
Diego Dorronsoro
Adam Ritchey
Katelyn Ridlbauer