Further to my questions earlier about reasons to add webcam; and a reason to not add it:
A really big problem in projects is the desire of "customers" to "gold-plate" the product. This adds time and complexity to building it. Further more, it enhances unreal expectations of the customer that the product can be "everything to everyone".
Thus, every feature suggestion would have to be looked at - to see if it really adds to the intent of the product, or if it is just gold-plating.
mIRC is an IRC client. IRC is (by its very definition) a text-based chat. Video is not text.
mIRC supports sounds, but only in the context that the commands to play sounds are sent in the text portion. The sounds themselves are played by another progam, usually using files that already exists on the client's PC.
If mIRC were to support video, then it would occur in a similar way. This would mean that mIRC itself will not support webcam, but that IRC would support a text command that would enable clients to recognise that a particular file should be played by a nominated application. I would be surprised if that infrastructure was not already in place.
ON CTCP:VIDEO:/play <file name or URL>
Come to think of it, would not the existing commands to play sounds achieve the same purpose? After all, Windows Media Player coud be the chosen application for that particular file extension.
If this is the case, then WebCam support does not need to be added!
To provide an analogy - I would like my family car to be able to transport Cargo on occasions, I would also like it to park in city parking spots and go bush and be used for racing. These activities are largely incompatible with the concept of the family car. I can achieve that by using different vehicles (applications). In the case of transporting cargo, I can buy a trailer (add-on), but the only thing I have to do to the car is to buy a tow-bar/ball (hook). In mIRC/IRC's case - the hook already exists.
To go back to the original point ( We aren't asking you for a reason to add it, we're asking for a reason not to add it. ). The hooks already exists - no need to add further support, and Video is outside the original concept of text-based chat (again no need to gold-plate - use an application that is optimised for the purpose).
Cheers,
DK
