Greetings d00dman,
Ultimately, I can agree with some points you make regaurding the overall development versus demand involvements, but overall I disagree that there is no demand for such an software. I have alot of users who would find great use from such an application, and I believe many others would follow suit, if the development initiative was taken.
The overall request I get from most non-internet saavy users who wish to use a live chat is that it be simple, and essentially dummyproof. When a broswer tries to display a java based irc client, and the browser doesn't have the capability to implement it, it requires the java plugins, etc.
I am fully aware that such browser compliancy should be solely dependant on the enduser, and the enduser alone, but that just isn't how the world is. We do have inexperienced people, and people with experience who are foreign to the applications, and its' settings.
Most non-internet saavy individuals will just take the passive road in this scenario, and not join the webchat at all, if they are required to have to download something foreign to them, much less possibly have to configure it.
Henceforth, the request in the _features request_ area of the message boards, as opposed to mailing a man that I'm sure has aolt of mail in his mailbox already. =)
I've worked at an ISP for years, and when building, or maintaining areas of our company sites, the overall objective is user friendliness, and ease of operation.
We also take great measures to ensure that our offerings are available to all parties, compliant across multiple standards.
Successful developers will look at the task at hand, and look at the directions it can go, and what steps should be taken to further progress the project, and doing so with the most user friendly features possible.
Setting up an application as mIRC to perform as a scaled down version with lesser options, and very few options to alter at all would be a product that the public would in fact make use of.
Look at ICQ for example.
They have grown so much in the last 5 or 6 years to what they are now, and they have so many options in their curent application, that they did in fact get a demand for a lite version.
They built a lite version, and it is commonly used today.
In the end, the lite version would be for a 'target' group of individuals, not just me, or my patrons, but moreso an option to those who wish for nothing more than to setup, add minimal variables, nick, server, channel.. and be there, doing the bare essentials they want to do without all of the bells and whistles.
I would wager if it was built.... it would be seriously used.
But hey, that's just my two cents, in reply. =-)
Ultimately, I ask myself with my two cents, and your two cents, have we accrued 4 cents of wasted time in retrospect? hehhehe.
