feature request - with an explanation

[Ivan Levchenko]

Hello Pidgin developers, qa testers, users,

First of all, I would like to apologize on sending to two mailing
lists at once, i just wanted to make sure that i would be heard,
because i think that it is a very important matter. I have been a
gaim/pidgin for more than two years now , it has been the best im
solution on linux since then (IMHO).
>From that time, each version of your im client has been getting better
and better, a lot of new features were being added and no matter what
system i was using over the last past two years, be that FreeBSD,
linux (a lot of different distros and all of then had gaim/pidgin in
their repositories) or Windows, I could always count on gaim being
available everywhere, which means a lot to me.

I wanted to talk to all about this - http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/414.
Now I use a lot of IM accounts - currently 5 ( 2 msn, 2 jabber and 1
icq, soon going to be adding skype to it). Two of them are work
accounts and 3 of them, personal. I need to be constantly in touch
with a lot of people at all times. Before version 2.0b7, each contact
had its protocol icon displayed in the contact list itself and it is
very easy to choose the right contact i needed. I will explain why it
is important for me: at work i use jabber and msn, it just so happens
that we have both, even though we are all trying to migrate to the
more secure and stable xmpp protocol, there are still a lot of people
that just don't want to use it because they like msn (yuck!), a lot of
times, i have to be sending out passwords or other delicate info, that
i don't want to be sniffed or something so i HAVE to use the jabber
network for the work contacts. earlier, it was a lot easier to choose
the right contact for the person - i just had to make a quick look and
bang - i have the jabber window open with the guy, and i'm already
talking to him. now, its a lot easier for me to make a mistake and to
send the guy a message via msn. - this was an opposition to comment
number seven in bug 414. It really DOES matter what protocol I am
using when i am talking to a person. I don't want to talk about my
personal things via a work account. and i don't want to be thinking
about what i am saying thinking about if somebody at work can access
my im logs.
Another point is that a lot of people use different accounts at home
and at work, for example at home my friend uses his yahoo account and
at work, he uses his msn, but he seldom puts an away message on his
home computer when he goes to work. Earlier it was a lot easier to get
to the right im account to talk to my friend, now, it isn't.

In the comments, you guys, the developers talk about how much of a
good decision it was to make the icon standard for the people, but
take a look at it from a different perspective -
since the day the bug was opened - one month ago, till the day
comments were turned off for the bug - you got 114 comments!!! That
means that it really was important for a lot of people.

When i first started to use linux and open source software, i was
really happy about one thing - you always have choice in everything
and you can always make a difference in something. In the world of
Microsoft - when you don't like something that has been changed in yet
another version of windows - TOO BAD; but in open source software, you
always had the choice to change it yourself. unfortunatley, i'm not a
developer, so i will have to rely on you guys  - the people that are
giving the world a choice - a choice other than proprietary software.
But since this has happened, its just going away from the open source
way as i see it.

Thanks a lot once again for all your great work on the Pidgin IM
client and I really do hope that you will bring back the multi
protocol icons - as a preference option or plugin - it really doesn't
matter, but you will be listening to a big crowd of your users if you
will help us out and put back the functionality that a lot of users
have gotten used!


-- 
Best Regards,

Ivan Levchenko
levchenko.i at gmail.com