One Big “Woo Hoo” to Adium – Inspirational Software
I communicate on IM all the time. I use it to keep in touch with my friends, help co-workers, and in general, it's the "one line email" that I simply can't imagine functioning without. It's what keeps me in touch with people I want/need to be in touch with. And on the Mac, there's one IM client that had such an incredible user-experience, that I feel I have to say something special about it.
Adium is one of the very best examples of software "done right" that I can think of. It "just works". It gets out of the way so easily that you wonder if it's really doing anything. It's quiet and unobtrusive when it's idle, and when it's necessary - it's as in-your-face as you want it to be. It's clean code. It doesn't crash. It just works.
It's a toaster.
To me, that's one of the greatest compliments you can pay to a piece of software. No need to wonder how to use it - it's obvious. No need to worry about breaking it - it's sturdy. It's a toaster.
Yet some of the neatest things are in the details. For example, it could do a lot less than it does and still be wonderful. But it allows you to really control your IM experience - groups, aliases, all work seamlessly and beautifully. It allows you to make the IM experience what you want - not what the developer wanted for you. It's really quite amazing.
Certainly, there are probably thousands of man-hours in this code, and it's been beaten on and tested to the limits. But still... it's Open Source. That's saying a lot. When a piece of free software is the best of it's class, it's more than just impressive... it's almost... magical.
It makes you think all programs can do this - be this. And for me at least, it makes me want to make my code this good. It's inspirational.