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Review of BitWiseChat 0.1.7.4 Deidru

By Dave Graham

Date: July 26, 2002

When all is said and done, there exists two markets in the Instant Messaging realm: the giants (MSN messenger, AOL IM, etc.) and the little people (Trillian, and other homegrown messaging services).  Well, another chat program has joined the fray and it’s about to take the world by storm.  Let’s journey into the realm of BitWise Chat.

BitWise Chat operates based on the principle that function supercedes form. If you want a “pretty” interface, go back to Trillian and its ability to be skinned.  If you want interoperability with all the major chat services, download them all and have at it. If you want features such as Detached Mode, Ghosting, Macros, Offline Messaging and Retrieval, or Custom away messages based on users, then Bitwise is for you. If you want the ability to chat with other people without the messy overhead found in programs like MSN Messenger and AOL, then welcome to BitWise.

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Founding Principles of BitWise

BitWise arose out of the frustration of AOL blocking access to Trillian.  Kevin and Jon grew so tired of the large-company games and being reliant on their servers that they conceived the idea of making their own chat program. From the ground up, they aimed to have a client/server that they could use reliably and that would have all of the features that the users wanted.  A short time after the notion was conceived, they ambitiously dove in with some proof-of-concept work, and before long, they had a very primitive client and server running on Perl on Linux.  From there, Jon took interest in the server, written in C using gcc, and Kevin started working on a real Windows client.  While the main thrust was first to get the basic messaging system working, they quickly branched into creating truly useful features, all while sticking true to their ideals of small, efficient code. For even further background, Jon has provided a glimpse into his worldview of BitWise: "While the direct connection design can be seen as a disadvantage in Internet-wide situations, this methodology is particularly advantageous in LAN situations where most of the users reside behind a common firewall. Unlike AIM or ICQ where if you open it [the firewall] up to allow your own users to connect to each other, placing the BitWise server on the inside of the firewall will let organizations make sure that their traffic stays where they have control over the connection - AND ensuring that users aren't spending their time talking to their outside friends. It's much easier to have a piece of software that has no outside connection capabilities, than to try and tell users that they are expected to use a particular program, and while they can see all their friends, they better not talk to them. The temptation factor is eliminated in a non-confrontational manner. Once we get an organization that wants to give it a shot, we'll work with them to develop a solution that fits their needs. The capability already exists for the administrator to restrict users actions (such as giving a group of users a common buddy list that cannot be altered), or allowing only selected users to accept file transfers from out of a particular network address space."

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The Interface

Login Screen

Ah! The element of simplicity. This is it.  Talk about a clean front-end login screen.  Just fill in the blanks with your username and password, optionally click Remember Password and follow-through with the Log In button.  You also have the option of logging in as invisible (i.e. no one can see that you’re online) or as detached.  The Detached Login mode is exciting because you log in without ever hitting the server.  As with detached mode (discussed later), you can initiate connections with any buddies that may be online, but, since you’re not connecting to the server, you won’t know if they’re online. This mode can be useful if you need to connect to BitWise but the server is down or your connection to the server is flaky.  No information will be sent to the server until you re-attach.  Once you’ve chosen your login mode, the server will authenticate you (in non-detached modes only) and your buddy list will be displayed.

 Buddy List

Once again, the simple elegance of BitWise cannot be ignored.  You have only 4 intuitive buttons to deal with: Add (which adds a new buddy), Online (which allows you to set your online status), Preferences (where most of the options are set) and Profile (which allows you to directly edit your profile.)  How many chat programs can boast of this?  To start chatting, double-click on one of your buddies…You can tell at a glance whether or not they’re available to chat by the bright yellow light bulb next to their name. If they're away, the light bulb will be a dark gray and if they're not logged on, the light bulb will be clear.   The Chat window, once again, is very clean.  The top area is for the conversation, the bottom area is for you to type in, and there’s only two buttons waiting or you: Send and Send File.  Send does exactly what it says and…guess what? Send File does to! Sending files need not be a difficult thing, just click Send File, select the file name, add a file description, and click Send.  Your file is directly sent to the recipient (and it works if one user is behind a firewall.)  So, chat away!

 Let’s get to the real meat behind BitWise: the Preferences menu.  What would a chat program be without options?  An empty shell.   Options are good and they make the end-user experience much better.  So, what does BitWise have to offer?  

Preferences

When you click on the Preferences button on the buddy list, you’re taken to a multi-tabbed window. Each tab sets the category for the options it controls.  For example, the Chat tab handles the basic chatting options including (but definitely not limited to) logging, message retrieval, fonts, etc.  Of course the Chat tab is just one of 7 tabs you can choose from.  For the purpose of this review, we’re just going to hit the highlights. Some of these highlights include the ability to log your chat sessions, time stamping, custom away messages based ON THE USER!, macros, offline messaging and delivery, and ghosting. Let's get into the details of these options.

• Logging your chat sessions - Ever have a time where your buddy (or girlfriend/boyfriend) says something that you wish you could keep? I know, those times are few.  However, for those important moments where you do need those choice words, you can delve into the chat sessions logs and find them.  By checking the Enable Logging box and selecting where you want your logs to go, you can preserve forever the immortal words of your mortal friends.
• Time Stamping - Do you sometimes get caught up in tinkering with your computer or forget that you've got an important conversation going with your mother-in-law? Time stamping helps you remember when and where your conversation left off. You can customize the appearance of the time stamp and the way it displays information.  In conjunction with logging, you can get right back to the minute you left off. Helpful, huh?
• Custom Away Messages (based on user) -  You're in college, right? You party on the weekends but you tell your parents you're in the library. With custom away messages, you could set your away message to "Party at the Stadium bar" for your friends but for your mother,  "Went to bed early, goodnight". While we don't advise dishonesty (let's face it, it's your MOTHER!), in a pinch, it can be done...
• Macros - Are you tired of typing "LOL" every time Joe Schmoe says something stupid? Are you constantly having to enter "AFAIK" 'cos Rick the Schtick asks invasive questions? Well, your word-typing saviour is here!  Macros enable you to create "shortcuts" to common expressions, phrases, etc. Here's a blurb taken from the BitWise website: "Macros are user defined text substitution strings that are translated in real-time to make it easier to use common phrases or terms. For example, if you frequently end your conversations with "Aitie that's it for now, I'm heading out, we'll talkatcha later", you can set up a macro called "bbye" (or whatever you want) that will make such a substitution automatically. Consider the following message, "Ok that sounds like a plan. bbye." The recipient will see "Ok that sounds like a plan. Aitie that's it for now, I'm heading out, we'll talkatcha later." A significant keystroke savings. While they can only control text in this revision, future revisions may have the ability to send images, etc.  To provide some working examples, a few system macros are included with the client. Here's a smattering of a few,  %ip (displays your IP in the chat window), %na (displays your buddy's name in the chat window; useful for away messages), and %ti (the current time). By placing these system macros in your away messages or any custom macros, you can, for example, give the time you went away, and even customize it to display your buddy's name back to them. On the Macros tab, you can also select Auto-expand. which expands the macro the moment you type it in.
• Offline Messaging and Delivery -  Has your significant other ever been dropped from their AOL connection while you're in the middle of typing the most incredible love note? Yeah, it happens, so what are you going to do?  If you're both using BitWise, you can keep typing your message and send it via Offline Messaging.  Since your chat sessions are only authenticated by the server and not HOSTED by the server, all of your chatting happens via direct connection.  However, if that direct connection is severed, the server can hold on to your messages until the other user gets back.  Once the other user logs on, he or she will see what you last typed!  This is a relationship saver, let me tell you... *grin*  One thing to note, if you're detached from the server (due to a connection failure on your end of the stick), you can't send offline messages 'cos you have no connection to the server. Since Detached mode is mentioned several times in conjunction to Offline Messaging, let's provide a brief definition of what it is. Detached mode is a server-less mode. In detached mode, no interaction will occur with the server, but since your buddies' IP history is cached locally, it is possible to not only continue interactions with the buddies you were chatting with when the server connection is dropped, but you may also initiate connections to buddies that are still online and at the same IP address as when you detached.
• Ghosting -  Ever have your chat client logged in at work and when you leave, you forget to logout?  Well, BitWise has come up with something cool: Ghosting.  Ghosting allows you to be logged on in two or more places simultaneously, transparent to everyone on your buddy list.  Ghosting is optional. By default, BitWise will always seek to replace your original session when you login elsewhere.  However, if you've enabled ghosting, you can be logged in at work and at home.  Pretty snazzy, eh? Note: as of this version release, Ghosting has not been implemented.  Look for it in future revisions.

There are plenty of other options to explore. However, we'll leave it up to you to register, download your own copy, and play with it!   

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Conclusion

Creativity is nothing without purpose. In BitWise, we have both purpose and creativity. On one hand, we have the BitWise ideals of minimal server interactions, direct connects, and ease of use. On the other hand, we have the creative use of function superceding form. Together, the whole is complete. Is the BitWise version I reviewed the final revision?  Certainly not!  BitWise has the advantage of having a small user base currently and the beauty of this is the ability to tailor the client to the user's needs.  Consider it the "mandate of the people," if you will.  The challenge in all of this is for you, the reader, to actively take it upon yourself to test, try and prove BitWise to be the chat program I have made it out to be. We will be creating a forum thread here that you can use to discuss your joys and tribulations with Bitwise.  If it works, let us know and if it fails you in some way, we want to know that too!  Also, please visit the website at http://www.bitwisechat.com to see some of the background, revisions, outstanding bugs, screen shots, etc. that BitWise has undergone.  If you're a registered user, you can log in to send offline messages to other users, retrieve any offline messages that you may have received, view who's online, and find other users.  Last, and definitely most importantly, BitWise depends on you.  We need a solid user base that will actively use the service to help get rid of the bugs and suggest new ideas or approaches to chatting.

Looking forward to seeing you online soon! 

Dave Graham (aka "Flicker180" on BitWise)

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A Brief Bio of Kevin and Jon, BitWiseChat's Founders

Kevin: "Born and raised in Oxford, OH, I've always been a small town boy with big city ideas.  I've been using computers since I was 3 or 4 years old, and have been programming since I was 9 or 10.  Computers have always been my primary focus, with my most intense interests falling in computer hardware and software programming.  BitWise is not my first project, but is by far the largest and most ambitious.  I'm currently triple-majoring at Miami of Ohio with majors in Computer Science, Systems Analysis, and Accounting.  I will be graduating in summer 2003."

Jon: "I'm from Cleveland, OH and a senior at Miami majoring in Systems Analysis and Computer Science.  My internship has me being a network and business security consultant for an industrial gas provider.  I actually can't say much more than that about it.  My fiancée is majoring in Journalism at Miami and writes articles and reports for several web sites."

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