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Joined: Dec 2002
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Babel fish
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Babel fish
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Personally, I am quite satisfied with mIRC 6.0x. I know it has bugs, but they don't bother me at all. I don't care about adding new identifiers to the scripting language, or minor tweaks of the UI. Sure, I'll download that megabyte when the e-mail arrives, but only by force of habit.

I want major, significant evolution of mIRC as much as I understand that Khaled is unlikely to achieve that.


Sincerely,
Necroman, #mIRC @ Undernet
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Fjord artisan
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i guess the awnser is no. you dont. You could even use past version of mirc to suit your every day needs.



;Check for Life

if (%life == $null) {
goto getlife
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Babel fish
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Then the next question would be: "so why are those people in the forum whining about the so-called delay?" smirk


Sincerely,
Necroman, #mIRC @ Undernet
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Ameglian cow
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I dont think there is a whinge about it as such. Everyone knows Khaled's policy: it will be ready in due time and not a day before.

As to why people may want new versions:
1. Bug fixes. Look at BUG REPORTS forum.
2. NEW things tend to be more exciting than the OLD things
3. People see some other client bringing new features and may have similar expectations in relation to mIRC. Look at FEATURE SUGGESTION forum.

A good, working but otherwise dead products become just that: dead. Look at PIRCH.

Longevity of 6.03 can indicate either of few non exclusive things:
1. It is very stable with few bugs.
2. It is stable with many bugs taking long time to resolve.
3. There is a long list of new features on the drawing board.
4. Next version may be a total rewrite using new tools, techniques, principles and/or ideas.
5. None of the above

My personal post about "resolution 2003" was an attempt to view the anticipation with a bit of humour.

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Hoopy frood
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Hoopy frood
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The current version is fine except for the fact that it uses upto 55MB ram when running certain scripts on it. This is fine for people like me with 512MB or more, though older computers do feel the pinch. Apart from the memory leak issue, the current version is quite stable and feature-packed.

Visually, I wouldn't encourage Khaled to change much as mIRC is popular because of two things:

1. Easy-as-pie scripting language.
2. Clean looks with the biggest channel window in the business.

Any change to the GUI should be limited to, maybe, a slight makeover for the toolbar buttons. Naturally bugfixes should be the main priority. I am not after much in the way of new features though I do look forward, one day, to the implementation of some 'added-value' to DCC such as Video Chat.

None-the-less I still look forward to each version and in a way I am glad there's no set timetable for releases. Anticipating what new 'goodies' are included in mIRC is part of the fun in waiting, even if it is six months. I am sure that if Khaled could wrap mIRC in paper and offer it to the users as a present, then he'd do just that. grin

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Ameglian cow
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You could of asked that question in 2.0.

Check the feature suggestions and bug reports for the past 7/8 months

IRC is [censored], nobody needs a new version, ofcourse there are more important things happening in the world. I guess we should stop wanting anything that isn't essential, and forget improvements? And love? And stupid hobbies?

I appreciate that you want evolution in mIRC, although you invited flames, and that little disclaimer doesnt matter because a crack head nearly cut me open last night and my wife hates me smile

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Hoopy frood
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Hoopy frood
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IRC is [censored],

There are worse things that one can do...

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Babel fish
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Of course bug fixes are important and the scripting language should be constantly and consistently improved. But I'd be glad if Khaled raised his head from all those little "bells and whistles" and presented us with something really new and fresh.

I'd like to see versions.txt containing 5 major improvements rather than 100 lines with "added: " or "fixed: " with nothing remarkable.

Btw, thank you all for your opinions.


Sincerely,
Necroman, #mIRC @ Undernet
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Hoopy frood
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If you want major changes then the question becomes: such as?

There's not really much room for major changes in the way chatting is done - somewhere to type text, somewhere to view text, a list of the people on the channel - it's pretty basic stuff that can only be done in so many ways. As for mIRC scripting itself any fundamental changes are pretty much gonna wipe out backwards compatability for scripts, with the exception perhaps of consecutive space support (which I certainly would like to see). Not to mention that any big changes in the language would almost certainly be to move it towards being much more complex. Quite frankly that would be a bad thing in my eyes, the very reason I still script in mIRC is it's simplicity.

It's not like there haven't been any big steps in recent versions either, multiserver support was the one significant feature that other clients had over mIRC and when that was added it cemented mIRC as the best IRC client available.

So the question remains, what kind of big changes?


Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
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Babel fish
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I really don't know how to define "major" in this case. Something that means a lot to me can be completely insignificant to others. But I'm going to mention a few ideas that have already been proposed.

1. mIRC API / modularity - the ability to replace/enhance various modules of mIRC (such as the Editor or Scripting Engine).
2. Language resources - the ability to translate mIRC into different languages.
3. Video/voice chat functionality.
4. Themes and skins.
5. Mouse gestures, like in Opera, with a scripting interface.
6. 3D graphics for picture windows.

I'm sure people can name a few more changes that could be considered fundamental.


Sincerely,
Necroman, #mIRC @ Undernet
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Fjord artisan
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Mouse gestures rox!
I've suggested this feature maybe an year ago, when I first saw it in Opera, but nobody seemed to like it wink
Anyways, Khaled doesn't have much choise: there MUST be next version
And the reason is very simple: IRCD's evolve
And if Khaled doesn't want his client to lose popuparity, the minimum is to add support for features that are used on major networks
One may say "script those features yourself", but mIRC is supposed to be THE MOST USER FRIENDLY CLIENT, and as I understand it this means "everybody should meet no difficulties while chatting"
That's why I am asking for things like vchans support, network specific channel central, notifies and more
I've got mine scripted a long time ago, but how many of the so called "lamers" have them?
How many of you talk to ppl that don't even know what mIRC is, teach them how to use it, what is a chanmode and things like that?
I think I've lost my thought now :>


And all I need now is intellectual intercourse, a soul to dig the hole much deeper
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Hoopy frood
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Well then you could go a step further. Do you really need IRC? Answer is no. You'll find other things to do with your time. But just because you don't need something doesn't mean you don't want it. I don't need a new car, but I'd certainly like one...

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Ameglian cow
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I agree everyone would see the desired changes from their own point of view and usage of mIRC.
Let me add few from my point of view:

* as you write spell checker similar to Office XP (I cannot spell),
* tree view list of open channels and queries instead of buttons (I know other clients already have it)
* serialized ident (I know I'm the only one on the planet who wants it)
* some method of protecting scripts against "script viruses"
* channel list to include clickable, resizable headers for sorting, showing modes as separate column)
* support for SSL chat (as provided by ConferenceRoom ircd and some others)

say what you want but I think these would be major changes.


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Babel fish
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>>> Well then you could go a step further. Do you really need IRC? Answer is no... I don't need a new car, but I'd certainly like one...

This is where you misunderstood me. If you see a car that is only slightly different from yours, will you buy it? I guess no, it simply isn't worth bothering. But you'll certainly think about it if that car is radically better.

The same goes with mIRC. I'd better wait for 3 more months to see some major improvements than to get it "here and now" just to find 100 bug fixes and additions like "added on dialog close event".


Sincerely,
Necroman, #mIRC @ Undernet
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Hoopy frood
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Hoopy frood
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I don't need a new car, but I'd certainly like one...

Me too. I put mine in this morning to have the fuel pump replaced. "That'll be $420.00 thankyou Sir", I was told. Talk about a licence to print money.

As for mIRC, I could probably live with the current version for a bit longer. Overall it has been a good version and served me well. I still always look foward to new ones though. grin

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Hoopy frood
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This is where you misunderstood me. If you see a car that is only slightly different from yours, will you buy it?

You mean like the numerous people who lease a car and then when the new model comes out, they then lease that one? Thats sort of a very common thing to do...

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Ameglian cow
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Until it is incorporated into mIRC, if ever, you can use this program to add the mouse-gesture feature to mIRC (and almost any other application):

Mouse Gestures




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