Version: 0.8.2 (using KDE KDE 3.2.1) Installed from: SuSE RPMs When adding an ICQ user to the buddylist with only an AIM account set up, it is isn't possible to see if the user is online and you're also unable to send messages. The ICQ user also doesn't see that the AIM user with Kopete is online.
That's because almost nothing is known about ICQ<->AIM interaction and compatibility and there is actually almost no need for this anyway, just get an account on both networks and connect to both at once, that's what Kopete is for.
There are several opensource clients that support this though. Out of my head: at least GAIM, LICQ and SIM. Wouldn't it be possible to use the sources of these for information about this?
But why would you ever want to? - No matter what the implementation, messaging and ICQ user from an AIM account is never going to be as good as going from ICQ to ICQ, since ICQ's usage of OSCAR is different. It is even not as good on the official AIM client. - You can just add an ICQ account to Kopete in seconds. And you can even group the guys AIM and ICQ acounts under 1 contact so it only messages wit the online service.
There are several reasons why this functionality would be usefull in Kopete. First of all, the current situation with multiple IM standards sucks and everything to bring the number of IM protocols down I think should be encouraged. Second, many people have built up contact lists on either AIM or ICQ with people using either ICQ or AIM. These people will need to notify all of their contacts that are using the other protocol of their new account before they can fully switch to Kopete at the moment, because those people otherwise see him as offline all the time.
*** Bug 84954 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 84958 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
It also matters a lot because there are a lot of people who use ONLY ICQ, who don't like AIM, who don't like multi-protocol messengers and are stuck on O/S Kopete doesn't run on, who simply cannot see you online or talk to you at all.
ICQ people can talk to AIM people. I can do this in GAIM. Why can't I do this in kopete. Problem is, I can't add an AIM account, because logging on with AIM kicks out the ICQ user. I see the ICQ users then as AIM users (thought I dunno if I can talk to them, haven't tested that). I have just ony friend who uses AIM, but he doesn't want to switch because all his friends usee AIM. Other way me, I can't swicht because all my friends use ICQ. Perhaps it would be possible for the kopete developers go into contact with the GAIM people and hopefully can fix that problem. I want to use kopete, because it is better implemented in KDE and the MSN connection works better than the one in GAIM.
I would like to add further explanation why this is a good idea: Some people are stuck using a particular client. Maybe not all the time, but at least some of the time they can only access their IM through one client. Myself, I like to run Licq or Kopete over X/ssh when I'm not at home. But that doesn't always work, and so I find I have to use icq2go. Guess what: with Kopete I can't see my AIM users even though Licq and Icq2Go see them just fine. I would like to switch to Kopete from Licq because I like the metacontacts and some of the other features, but unless I can see my AIM clients from ICQ, I will not be able to switch. I think Kopete is a fine product but this is, to me, a showstopper. All my AIM contacts already have me on their list as an ICQ user, so creating an AIM account isn't a valid option for me since I'd have to contact all of them to make sure they switch. And I wouldn't even be able to phase it in, without running TWO IM clients, since I can't have an AIM account in Licq AND an ICQ account at the same time. Anyway, as was mentioned, this type of integration is possible because several other open-source clients already do it just fine. I hope Kopete will be one of them soon.
SVN commit 605910 by rjarosz: Add feature 80717: Add the ability to use AIM contacts with ICQ and vice versa. - Add AIMContactBase class, that contains functions common for AIM contacts in AIM and ICQ accounts. - Add ICQContactBase class, that contains functions common for ICQ contacts in AIM and ICQ accounts. - Add ICQContact to AIM plugin and AIMContact to ICQ plugin. - Move sanitizedMessage function to AIMContactBase and ICQContactBase classes, because we want parsing based on other side protocol. - Add OscarProtocol which is now base class for ICQProtocol and AIMProtocol. - Implement older away message format for ICQ, so AIM can see away message for ICQ contact. - Cleanup duplicate code. FEATURE: 80717 GUI: M +4 -1 CMakeLists.txt M +1 -0 aim/CMakeLists.txt M +20 -53 aim/aimaccount.cpp M +0 -2 aim/aimaccount.h M +17 -222 aim/aimcontact.cpp M +6 -36 aim/aimcontact.h M +2 -48 aim/aimprotocol.cpp M +2 -12 aim/aimprotocol.h A aim/icqcontact.cpp [License: GPL (v2+)] A aim/icqcontact.h [License: GPL (v2+)] M +31 -10 aim/ui/aimaddcontactpage.cpp M +45 -14 aim/ui/aimaddcontactui.ui A aimcontactbase.cpp [License: GPL (v2+)] A aimcontactbase.h [License: GPL (v2+)] M +1 -0 icq/CMakeLists.txt A icq/aimcontact.cpp [License: GPL (v2+)] A icq/aimcontact.h [License: GPL (v2+)] M +20 -10 icq/icqaccount.cpp M +0 -2 icq/icqaccount.h M +26 -241 icq/icqcontact.cpp M +6 -53 icq/icqcontact.h M +3 -73 icq/icqprotocol.cpp M +4 -11 icq/icqprotocol.h M +72 -68 icq/ui/icqadd.ui M +32 -15 icq/ui/icqaddcontactpage.cpp A icqcontactbase.cpp [License: GPL (v2+)] A icqcontactbase.h [License: GPL (v2+)] M +4 -1 liboscar/client.cpp M +34 -23 liboscar/profiletask.cpp M +2 -0 liboscar/profiletask.h M +2 -0 liboscar/servicesetuptask.cpp M +1 -1 oscaraccount.cpp M +1 -2 oscaraccount.h M +88 -8 oscarcontact.cpp M +17 -3 oscarcontact.h A oscarprotocol.cpp [License: GPL (v2+)] A oscarprotocol.h [License: GPL (v2+)]
*** Bug 146977 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***