Blog@instantbird.org

Blog@instantbird.org - Announce http://blog.instantbird.org/t3-announce.html fr Blog@instantbird.org/Announce : Announces of new releases Major update to Instantbird 0.2 http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm27-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n27-major-update-to-instantbird-0-2-3.html As no critical issues have been reported in the <a href="http://blog.instantbird.org/a25-instantbird-0-2-released.html">recently released Instantbird 0.2</a>, we have turned on major updates for users of Instantbird 0.1.2 and 0.1.3. If you are still using one of these old versions, you will receive a major update offer to get the newer Instantbird 0.2. It will look like this: <img src="http://blog.instantbird.org/images/major-update-to-0.2.png" alt="Major update offer dialog" /> Unfortunately, due to a bug of the updater that shipped in the Windows version of Instantbird 0.1.3.1, the update won't be automatic for these users, who should <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/">download the full installer</a> themselves. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:59:32 +0200 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.2 released! http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm25-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n25-instantbird-0-2-released-3.html After months of development and a few pre-release versions, we are happy to announce that Instantbird 0.2 is now ready to be put in the hands of the general public. Instantbird 0.2 is now available in 5 languages thanks to the great work of our translators. If you have tried Instantbird 0.1 back in 2007 when it was first released, Instantbird 0.2 may feel like a completely different software to you. The most dramatically changed area is the conversation window (for example, <a href="http://blog.instantbird.org/a18-tabs.html">new tabs</a> and <a href="http://blog.instantbird.org/a22-message-styles.html">message styles</a>), but there are notable changes in almost every window. For a list of changes, see the <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/release-notes.html">release notes</a>. Let's stop talking, so that you can <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/">discover Instantbird 0.2 now</a>! <a href="http://www.instantbird.com"><img style="border:none;" src="http://blog.instantbird.org/images/instantbird-text-512x128.png" alt="Instantbird logo" /></a> In the next few days, we will talk about our plans for the future, and especially Instantbird 0.3. Stay tuned! Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:10:39 +0200 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Our goals: toward Instantbird 0.2 and beyond http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm17-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n17-our-goals-toward-instantbird-0-2-and-beyond-3.html As you may already know, Instantbird 0.2 will be released soon. The development of this version has been going on for more than a year already! While we have been busy adding new features or polishing existing ones, we may have missed a few opportunities to communicate about what we were doing, what we had already done, where we are going, and why. And when we did write something about our new features, the announcements lacked screenshots, and probably didn't convey much of our enthusiasm. The last few days before the 0.2 release are an opportunity for us make up for our lack of communication. <h2>The way toward Instantbird 1.0</h2> Let's begin with a clarification about the way we are slowly but surely going to our future 1.0 release. Our <a href="http://wiki.instantbird.org/Instantbird:Initial_Roadmap">initial roadmap</a> contained the somewhat misleading claim that our goal for 1.0 was to reach "feature parity" with <a href="http://pidgin.im/">Pidgin</a>. This led some people to believe that we were basically copying the Pidgin graphical user interface and reimplementing it in XUL. Although this could have held some truth for the earlier goal of Instantbird - which was to provide the extensibility that is loved in Firefox and features similar to those found in Pidgin - this is no longer the case. When we implement a new feature in Instantbird, we carefully consider how it is likely to be used. We think about the use cases. We look at how the same problem has been handled by other existing IM clients, so that we can benefit from what others have done before us. Sometimes we take inspiration and implement something in a similar way to another client (for instance the <a href="http://wiki.instantbird.org/Instantbird:Message_Styles_reference">message theme system</a> that we have borrowed from <a href="http://adium.im/">Adium</a>), but sometimes things don't look satisfying and we have to look for a better solution. We especially try to avoid exposing the user to new popup dialogs that interrupt the user but don't seem absolutely necessary. Once something is implemented, we do our best to take advantage of the early feedback we get from our <a href="http://blog.instantbird.org/a6-nightly-builds-available.html">nightly</a> testers. So why are we doing this? Copying the interface of an existing application as quickly as possible would be easier, and would lead to a fast result. But it would be worthless. We don't need another Pidgin, Adium, ... (insert the name of your favorite multi-protocol IM application here). These applications already exist and are mostly great, there's no point in cloning them. What we do care about is our users: our current users of course, but also future users. We believe instant messaging should be less frustrating. We want to build an all-in-one instant messaging application that is as easy as possible to use, yet powerful. We value simplicity and ease of use in the default configuration, and at the same time we want to allow advanced customizations. Developers with an idea should be able to easily customize their IM client, like they can already do with their web browser. We value privacy, and respect your data. Instant messages often have confidential or intimate content. We believe that our users should have the power to decide how this information is used, and where it is stored. This is the reason why even though more and more users decide to use web applications like Gmail, Facebook or Meebo for their IM needs, we believe that it is still relevant in 2010 to build an IM application that runs directly on the computer you own. We don't know yet how Instantbird 1.0 will be, it will need to be discussed. With You. At this point we are discussing which improvements will compose the 0.3 release. If you want to take part in this discussion or have questions related to our long term goals, don't hesitate to <a href="http://instantbird.com/contact.html">get in touch</a> with us. <h2>What's next?</h2> We are confident that if you have tried a release from the Instantbird 0.1.* series, you will see Instantbird 0.2 as major improvement. And if you haven't used Instantbird before, then the 0.2 release is a great time to start! In the next few days, we will detail a few of the features that already make Instantbird 0.2 a very usable instant messaging application, despite its low version number. Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:21:42 +0200 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.2 beta 2 released in 4 languages! http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm15-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n15-instantbird-0-2-beta-2-released-in-4-languages-3.html <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2b2.html">Instantbird 0.2 beta 2</a> is now available in English, French, Polish and Russian. If you want to help with the translation for another language, contact us. The new features of this second beta include a better handling of statuses, cool new default message and emoticon themes, a basic log viewer, actions on buddies from a buddy list context menu, and a lot more! Read the <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2b2.html">release notes</a> for the details. Windows users will be pleased to notice that this release is provided with an installer. You can download the beta and read the release notes from <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2b2.html">here</a>. The development of Instantbird 0.2 is nearly finished and this beta will be the last one before the final 0.2 release which is expected to come relatively soon. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:45:59 +0100 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Translations http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm14-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n14-translations-3.html We have been contacted by lots of individuals who volunteered to translate Instantbird into their native language and were eager to start working on it. As we were not ready to host the translations, we asked people to wait before starting their work on localized versions of Instantbird. As we plan to release the next beta of Instantbird 0.2 in several languages, we feel that now is a good time to start translating the UI of Instantbird. Please note that the development work is not finished yet, and that there will still be string changes before we are ready to release this next milestone. You will find information on the translation process on our wiki at <a href="http://wiki.instantbird.org/Instantbird:Translation">http://wiki.instantbird.org/Instantbird:Translation</a>. As usual, if you have any question, feel free to ask them in #instantbird on irc.mozilla.org or to contact us at contact AT instantbird DOT org. Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:07:11 +0100 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.2 beta 1 released! http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm13-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n13-instantbird-0-2-beta-1-released-3.html We are happy to announce the release of <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2b1.html">Instantbird 0.2 beta 1</a>. The two most significant improvements in this release are new tabs in conversation windows and the preferences window. There's a lot more new stuff, read the <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2b1.html">release notes</a> for a more detailed list. You can download the beta and read the release notes from <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2b1.html">here</a>. Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:30:40 +0100 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.2 alpha 1 and addons! http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm12-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n12-instantbird-0-2-alpha-1-and-addons-3.html Today is a very special day for us. We have a double release to announce! First, the long awaited add-ons website is now ready for you to use. You will already find a lot of extensions on it since we took care of uploading more than 200 of them. Think about browsing the experimental add-ons, a lot of them are still marked as such. The add-ons website is at this address: <a href="https://addons.instantbird.org/">https://addons.instantbird.org/</a>. And last, but not least, <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2a1.html">Instantbird 0.2 alpha 1</a> is now ready for you to try it! There's a lot of new interesting stuff in this one. Here are some of them, read the <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2a1.html">release notes</a> for more:<ul> <li>It is <a href="a10-instantbird-0-2-feature-preview-localizability.html">ready to be localized</a> (and you can try an <a href="https://addons.instantbird.org/en-US/instantbird/addon/207">experimental French language pack</a>),</li> <li><a href="a11-instantbird-0-2-feature-preview-conversations-customization.html">Improved conversations</a>: you can change conversation styles, smiley themes are now handled.</li> <li>We implemented a 'magic' copy/paste feature that will allow you to have pretty quotes out of messages copied from Instantbird. Some bugs may still exist in this.</li> <li>As usual, we took great care of stability issues, so Instantbird 0.2 alpha 1 is already more stable than 0.1.3.1 at this point, so don't hesitate to give it a try!</li> </ul> You can download the alpha and read the release notes from <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.2a1.html">here</a>. Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:01:38 +0200 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.1.3.1 released http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm8-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n8-instantbird-0-1-3-1-released-3.html We have just released a small update to Instantbird 0.1.3. This will fix the connection issue with ICQ that appeared a little more than two weeks ago (sorry it took so long!) and improve the stability. You can download this new 0.1.3.1 release from <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.1.3.1.html">this page</a> or just click on the 'Check for updates' menu to download only a small update file. We are going to post a status update about the progress of the development of the 0.2 version soon. Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:23:06 +0100 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.1.3 released! http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm7-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n7-instantbird-0-1-3-released-3.html After a few months without any release, we are glad to announce the release of <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.1.3.html">Instantbird 0.1.3</a>! This should be the last minor release before Instantbird 0.2 on which the work has already started (we are currently working on localization stuff). <h2>What's new?</h2> This version contains several new features, but is also a stability/bugfix release. <ul> <li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">New features:<ul> <li>Proxy support: you can now use HTTP and Socks proxies.</li> <li>Typing notifications: you can know when the person you are talking to is typing.</li> <li>Automatic reconnection: when a non fatal connection error occurs (e.g. network failure), the account is automatically reconnected after a few seconds.</li> <li>Idleness: servers are notified when you are idle so that your status is changed.</li> <li>Better handling of chat rooms: the topic of the room and the list of participants are displayed, IRC commands work.</li> <li>Findbar: it is now easy to search in a conversation, with a findbar similar to the Firefox one. A notable difference is that it searches backwards by default, so that the most recent matching messages are found first.</li> <li>Universal build: the Mac binary now also works on PPC Macs.</li> </ul></li> <li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Updated: Instantbird 0.1.3 is based on libpurple 2.5.2 and Mozilla 1.9.1b2.</li> <li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Improved stability: we used the crash reports that we got from the 0.1.2 release and nightly builds to fix bugs that resulted in crashes.</li> </ul> You can download Instantbird 0.1.3 for Windows, Mac or Linux from <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.1.3.html">this page</a>. Of course you can also download the source code. We look forward to get your feedback on this release. You can comment on this post or join us on IRC in #instantbird. Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:09:57 +0100 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Nightly builds available http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm6-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n6-nightly-builds-available-3.html <h2>Nightly builds</h2> We produce nightly builds of Instantbird every day with buildbot. These builds can be downloaded from our server at <a href="http://ftp.instantbird.com/instantbird/nightly/latest-trunk/">http://ftp.instantbird.com/instantbird/nightly/latest-trunk/</a>. Please note that these builds are available for testing purpose only, and are totally untested before we put them online. Use them at your own risks. If you want to help us with testing, there is no need to download and install a new build from the server everyday, the application will automatically propose updates. To ensure that users won't confuse nightly unstable builds with releases, we use a different set of icons for the nightlies. The nightly icon is: <img src="http://www.instantbird.com/images/nightly.png" alt="Nightly logo"/> <h2>What's new?</h2> It has already been a few months since the last release, so I guess it's a good time for a quick status update. Just after the 0.1.2 release, we switched from subversion to mercurial for the versioning of our source code. Our mercurial repository is publicly available at <a href="http://hg.instantbird.org/">http://hg.instantbird.org/</a>. At the same time, for the Mozilla code we use, we switched from the CVS trunk (1.9.0.x) to mozilla-central and we are now using a build system which is very similar to the comm-central one. In fact, it's a copy of it with very small modifications. Thanks to the people who helped us for the transition and to the people who worked on the comm-central build system. There are also some new features: There's a findbar in the conversation window (Ctrl/Cmd + F to open it), commands (/me, /topic, etc...) work in conversations, the list of chat room participants is displayed (for example, in IRC channels), typing notifications work, idleness (becoming idle based on the inactivity time) works, status changes are displayed in conversations, it's possible to force a check for update, ... We also spent time on code cleanup (debug logging for example) and stability improvements (taking into account the data from the crash reporting system). <h2>What's next?</h2> We plan to do another minor release soon, and after that, for the 0.2 release, the focus will be on extensibility. On a side note, this project has been public for one year, Instantbird 0.1 was released on October 18th, 2007. Even if we hoped to do more, it's been a great year for the project! Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:23:42 +0200 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.1.2 crashing with some MSN accounts http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm5-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n5-instantbird-0-1-2-crashing-with-some-msn-accounts-3.html We have just released Instantbird 0.1.2.1 to fix a crash that a lot of people experienced when trying to connect their MSN account on Windows. Unfortunately, this issue wasn't detected during our testing prior to the release and we are really sorry about it. If you have Instantbird 0.1.2 on Windows (and if it doesn't crash at startup because of an automatic connection to your MSN account), you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. You can get the full version of Instantbird 0.1.2.1 from the <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download.html">download</a> page. We would like to thank our users who sent crash reports and useful feedback, and congrats to the people who worked on the crash reporting and automated update tools. Being able to notice, locate and fix quickly such bugs with a small (21kB) update is just amazing! Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:07:08 +0200 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.1.2 released! http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm4-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n4-instantbird-0-1-2-released-3.html After a few months without any release, we are glad to announce the release of <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.1.2.html">Instantbird 0.1.2</a>! <h2>What's new?</h2> This version is more a stability/bugfix release than a feature release. <ul> <li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Updated: Instantbird 0.1.2 is now based on libpurple 2.4.3 and Mozilla 1.9.0.1.</li> <li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Improved stability: we fixed the outstanding bugs that resulted in crashes. We also turned on breakpad to get more data on crashes.</li> <li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Detailed tooltips: the tooltips of the buddy list now contain detailed information.</li> <li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Under the hood: On this release we spent a lot of time on the build system. Instantbird can now be built like any other Mozilla application. It doesn't require to build dependencies separately any more. This results in smaller downloads (we package only the files that are really needed) and for developers it will now be easy to play with our code.</li> </ul> You can download Instantbird 0.1.2 for Windows, Linux or Mac from <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download-0.1.2.html">this page</a>. Of course you can also download the source code. We look forward to get your feedback on this release. You can comment on this post or join us on IRC in #instantbird. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:19:35 +0200 Florian <florian@instantbird.org> Instantbird 0.1.1 released! http://blog.instantbird.org/nocomm3-3.html http://blog.instantbird.org/n3-instantbird-0-1-1-released-3.html We are glad to announce the release of <a href="http://www.instantbird.com/download.html" title="Download Instantbird 0.1.1">Instantbird 0.1.1</a>. This release is mostly a bug fix release. We've been impressed by the success of the 0.1 release and thought it would be nice to deliver a more stable version for the users we already have before making big changes for version 0.2. The things we focused on for this release are: <ul> <li>Improved stability: we fixed the outstanding bugs that resulted in crashes.</li> <li>Proper handling of non-ASCII characters. Instantbird now uses UTF-8 for all strings.</li> <li>Usability improvements. We fixed bugs that didn't require much of our time and will significantly improve the user experience. For examples: aliases in the buddy list, linkification in the chat window, ... We also removed some common annoyances in the UI.</li> <li>IRC Chats. In order to build a community, we thought it was critical to provide some way for users and testers to talk in a public place and not only send us private messages. There is now in the "File" menu a "Join Chat" item which will allow users and future contributors to join us in irc.mozilla.org#instantbird</li> </ul> We look forward to get your feedback on this release. You can comment in this blog or join us on IRC. We would like to thank the early testers and users of the 0.1 release who provided some great feedback and helped us make Instantbird better! Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:24:34 +0100 Florian <florian@instantbird.org>