Heres the situation. I've "Almost" convinced my dad to get the new mac mini.
Only thing is he uses the computer mainly for chatting with family overseas and likes to use webcam and audio features in MSN. At the moment I don't think MSN offers these features in the Mac version. Is there any way to get them through a 3rd party program and if so what program?
Pleas help I want my dad to get the Mac mini!!! *drool*

Too bad for him - no mac mini for you.

At the moment, MSN does not support video or voice chat on mac, and i know of no other 3rd party alternative that does it through the msn protocol.

Tell the family to use skype instead

much better for audio chats

iChat -> AOL should work?

Hello chako012 -

I was at first a little dissapointed at this when I switched mid-way though last year.. but have overcome it by using a combination of Skype (AWESOME!) for voice conversations with friends/family back home in Brisbane, and also using Messenger or iChat (with many PC friends using AOL IM) for text chatting, and also to first check if either party is on-line before switching over to Skype and having a voice conversation.. I know I can use Skype to see if people are on-line, but seeming everyone has either iChat or MSN Messenger open once they get on-line, this is the most sure-fire way to catch each other..

Please don't let him be preturbed by this - it is a Microsoft short-coming, and not a fault of Apple's.. iChat is a much more pleasant interface to use for text chatting than MSN anyway, so maybe its his friends that need to upgrade from dodgy MSN, which, despite its never ending upgrades and obsession with crap like smiley's, is unreliable on a PC anyway!

Get him to Switch - he won't regret it!!

Yahoo Messenger (Mac Version) appears to have web cam function for one to one contacts - but both users need to have broadband & using same version of Yahoo.

MSN doesnt suport audio or video from the mac platform no matter what client you use

Yahoo! Messenger supports video on mac and windows, but no audio

AOL/iCHat supports audio and video on both platforms

Skype supports audio on both platforms

Thats a bummer, because of the fact that my dad and family are of the older generation and technologically imcompetent in most aspects as well as the fact that all of his family live in china and cannot speak english, it will be hard for me to convince them all to switch to another program and corodinate it.

Maybe I'll just wait till msn supports audio andvideo for mac....HURRY UP!!!><

In that case you may as well wait until M$ develop a crash free, virus free operating system as well. In other words it will never happen.

I don't understand what this hesitation with peecee users is about giving MSN the flick. The AOL/iChat alternative is far better. Just get them onto AOL.

I never use video chat before but I read about this from one of the forums.
not sure if it work or not. Its a paid software btw.
http://www.ispq.com/

Its because a mrjority of ppl using msn, so you cant tell them all to switch.. You'd be the one left out in the cold.. Be far better for Apple to include MSN support in iChat

true, msn was one factor why i hesitated before i switched. but then there's aMSN which is great, but still without video/audio features. still, i'd rather have stability and peace of mind than watching family/friends on the cam. there are a lot of other things i use this mac for and everything has been nothing less than fantastic.

but if u plan to use the mac mini solely for video chatting and nothing, nothing else, then i reckon u should look elsewhere.

I have found video-messenger "Squidcam" (requires broadband) interesting at a number of levels ...http://www.squidsoft.com/squidcam/ Its (from memory) the only PC-Mac cross platform video solution I have seen. I have downloaded, ... & seems simple, but effective, with good picture quality - though have not actually used it live.

A basic review at http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/11/27/i...idcam_makes.htm seems quite supportive. Interesting feature is flat cost $25 USD to register, with no usage charges - but last (beta) version was released 2/2004 with promised upgrades about every 8 weeks. This has not happened, ... & why would you want to pay $25 for beta version especially as upgrades so "elusive"? Also, why leave statements like that on web page when have proved to be incorrect. probably a breach of fair trading rules in Australian Market.

Nonetheless it seems you can operate free beta version without charge & may be worth further investigation. An email to developers might garner the future of this App. Is anyone out-there aware of any other cross-platform apps for this application?

I have tried ISPQ since the quoted post above and found to be very good. You can use it free for 7 days before it becomes limited in it's functions. US$40+ to purchase so you may not get other ppeople to buy it. Picture quality not as good as iChat but certainly acceptable. Support if you need it (and I did for some config issues) was excellent

ISPQ (Pronounced I Speak apparrently)

Hope this helps :blink:

Damn and that just gets us back to the same problem; incompatible legacy IM using all these proprietary protocols. The solution is Jabber. Though for the moment, it doesn't help the original poster as I'm not sure where Jabber is at the moment with video/audio streaming (there may be some clients with a proprietary solution). Still, with Jabber you won't be waiting donkey years for M$ to implement features on mac since the Jabber protocols are all open.