Frequently Asked Questions

Whose the author?

Andrew Luecke, a 3rd year computer science student at Monash University in victoria, Australia.. If you really care, you can go here.. I'm betting you dont ;)

Is there anyway I can help?

Support is always helpful.. I'm especially looking for coders from many different platforms (especially the more obscure ones). What I really would like to do is get this concept built into many operating systems. I also dont think its a good idea starting on anything major until I've broken the system down more on the design side of things (and listed the security considerations). Otherwise we end up 10 different implementations which all need a code rewrite after 3 months

I am also looking for some more hardware. Preferably, I would like to code this for darwin/mac however, my mac is a desktop, so I'm limited in the time I can spend programming it (I would love to spend time programming it for instance at my lunchbreak at work).

I have some cool ideas can I send them to you?

I'm always in need of more good ideas, especially at this point, so that I can design the system in an even more modular way (I always design my programs though to be very modular and extendible). Please post them to the forums, that way maybe someone else will see them and be given even more ideas.

Are you some kind of idiot?? This system is going to lead to security problems

Thats what service blacklisting is for.. By letting people use a central server to block insecure services, it means you are actually safer because it can offer better suggestions of services to use instead of your current one.. There are also many other schemes I'll be using to provide security. Dont worry, i have studied computer security before and I do believe I will be able to secure it in a way that it is more secure then current systems now.

When can we expect to see the first results of the project?

Not that soon.. I'm not going to mark anything as a beta until I consider it safe and stable, as I dont want to put users at risk. This project covers a very large scope and thus

Which programming language will it be done in?

C/C++, as its the most portable, and most flexible of the programming languages. It also doesn't have overhead like languages such as perl, python, java, etc. As its a more basic language, its the easiest to create bindings for other languages to use! The different applets for the various operating systems however will vary, and at this time, all I know is the Mac OS X one will be using Objective C, and I'd be guessing the linux one will be C++

What IM network is this system based on?

Jabber, because its the most flexible, most 'open' and most popular of the Instant messaging networks. Its also is the one with the most features, and is the only one being actively improved. In fact, it is soon going to be used by the American military because they have found it a very powerful system to work off, and in reality, many people are already using it, without even realising it, in many of their programs. With the use of transports, you can also use most other popular IM networks with any decent jabber client, so migration is easy, and people wont need to change their entire lives to use it.

Which platforms will you try to develop for initially

I plan to aim the first implementation at Mac OS X (in fact, I'd like to get a full implementation done before a feature freeze on MAC OS 11, when it comes out), and then Linux. Its mostly just a matter of getting the base working on each platform and then the gui code used can be made specifically for the platform. Windows support will also be done, however, not as passionately as other platforms, because Microsoft charge money for a decent compiler, and in all honesty, the programming libraries in windows aren't great.

Who do you want to thank?

Everyone who helped out, which includes: etc.. Very long list. If you want to be specifically mentioned, please email me ;)

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