March 21, 2010 at 06:53Miranda IM versus QIP Infium
Non-original topic, but for me it was quite urgent.
Despite the fact that I like to rummage around in different things and customize them for myself - my desire does not go so far as to transfer from Windows to GNU \ Linux, but on the basis of numerous tips from friends and persuasions, I briefly moved from QIP Infium (then RC3 or something) on Miranda IM. And the result was first categorically and incredibly very dissatisfied, and then some kind of emotionally aggressive outburst subsided and Miranda continued to like me quite passively.
At this point, I must say that I looked from the perspective of an ordinary user who needs a “harvester”. I did not care deeply about licenses, kernels, openness of the code and the language in which it is written.
For myself, I was able to highlight the main problems of Miranda:
1. Absolutely indigestible client “out of the box”.
Poor interface. Yes, without whistles like transitions, transparency and other blackouts, but I don’t really need it either - I don’t play a toy or watch a fantastic saga. But seeing the client in such a severe condition, the first thing I would wish is to simply remove it to hell, without even delving into how and what can be replaced and configured there.
2. Overloaded with settings.
In "Miranda" you can really configure anything, but something completely beyond the reach is available with plugins. But going into the settings for some nonsense, I spend fifteen minutes there trying to figure out what's what. This should be attributed to the problem of cataloging and sorting options so that a new user immediately knows where to get and do what he wants.
3. Lack of localization.
No, of course there is Miranda Planet, which generates a translation file for version information and plugins, but the client itself "out of the box" obviously should not welcome any user in English.
4. Calculation of an audience of confident users and IT-specialists.
On the one hand, this draws a clear line between the project audience and everyone else. A complete beginner who does not even know what ICQ is will not be able to cope with the program and will quit the whole process at the very beginning simply because such nonsense should not take so much time and effort. And generally speaking, this is a very offensive fact, because Miranda is really a promising client, but with a lot of shortcomings with which he will not be able to become world-wide like Firefox, for example.
These are the key nuances of working with Miranda IM, the problems that QIP Infium lacks.
And now about how (in my opinion ) it would be worth solving them :
1.Insert a new skin into the official client, support for working with tabs, history and other things that people still download. At the same time, for owners of weak cars and in general people who do not need this, leave and update the version where this is not all.
2. Deal with the design and design the settings tree in such a way that it will not overwhelm the user with thousands of points. (As far as I know, work in this direction is already underway.)
3. To attract people who translate the interface into all languages of the world and, when they visit the site, palm off on them a version in their language, as is the case with Firefox.
4.Simplification of the installation and configuration process, creation of a well-documented help and some other Quick Start, which in a couple of words would explain to the user what it really is, why he needs it and how to get it from all this more quickly and without stress.
Many reasonably argue with me, saying that there are hundreds of popular assemblies in which some of these problems have been resolved. But these are builds, not official builds, and in many ways the authors of these builds create even more problems than they solve, if only because they are not specialists at the developer level and it’s difficult to talk seriously about builds.
For myself, after a year of experience with Miranda, I had to decide to return to QIP.
Just because it’s easier and the IM client is clearly not the thing that I will spend time and nerves on.
And we'll see later, maybe I will return to Miranda after the release of the version without the prefix "0."
Despite the fact that I like to rummage around in different things and customize them for myself - my desire does not go so far as to transfer from Windows to GNU \ Linux, but on the basis of numerous tips from friends and persuasions, I briefly moved from QIP Infium (then RC3 or something) on Miranda IM. And the result was first categorically and incredibly very dissatisfied, and then some kind of emotionally aggressive outburst subsided and Miranda continued to like me quite passively.
At this point, I must say that I looked from the perspective of an ordinary user who needs a “harvester”. I did not care deeply about licenses, kernels, openness of the code and the language in which it is written.
For myself, I was able to highlight the main problems of Miranda:
1. Absolutely indigestible client “out of the box”.
Poor interface. Yes, without whistles like transitions, transparency and other blackouts, but I don’t really need it either - I don’t play a toy or watch a fantastic saga. But seeing the client in such a severe condition, the first thing I would wish is to simply remove it to hell, without even delving into how and what can be replaced and configured there.
2. Overloaded with settings.
In "Miranda" you can really configure anything, but something completely beyond the reach is available with plugins. But going into the settings for some nonsense, I spend fifteen minutes there trying to figure out what's what. This should be attributed to the problem of cataloging and sorting options so that a new user immediately knows where to get and do what he wants.
3. Lack of localization.
No, of course there is Miranda Planet, which generates a translation file for version information and plugins, but the client itself "out of the box" obviously should not welcome any user in English.
4. Calculation of an audience of confident users and IT-specialists.
On the one hand, this draws a clear line between the project audience and everyone else. A complete beginner who does not even know what ICQ is will not be able to cope with the program and will quit the whole process at the very beginning simply because such nonsense should not take so much time and effort. And generally speaking, this is a very offensive fact, because Miranda is really a promising client, but with a lot of shortcomings with which he will not be able to become world-wide like Firefox, for example.
These are the key nuances of working with Miranda IM, the problems that QIP Infium lacks.
And now about how (in my opinion ) it would be worth solving them :
1.Insert a new skin into the official client, support for working with tabs, history and other things that people still download. At the same time, for owners of weak cars and in general people who do not need this, leave and update the version where this is not all.
2. Deal with the design and design the settings tree in such a way that it will not overwhelm the user with thousands of points. (As far as I know, work in this direction is already underway.)
3. To attract people who translate the interface into all languages of the world and, when they visit the site, palm off on them a version in their language, as is the case with Firefox.
4.Simplification of the installation and configuration process, creation of a well-documented help and some other Quick Start, which in a couple of words would explain to the user what it really is, why he needs it and how to get it from all this more quickly and without stress.
Many reasonably argue with me, saying that there are hundreds of popular assemblies in which some of these problems have been resolved. But these are builds, not official builds, and in many ways the authors of these builds create even more problems than they solve, if only because they are not specialists at the developer level and it’s difficult to talk seriously about builds.
For myself, after a year of experience with Miranda, I had to decide to return to QIP.
Just because it’s easier and the IM client is clearly not the thing that I will spend time and nerves on.
And we'll see later, maybe I will return to Miranda after the release of the version without the prefix "0."