"Here's an important posting for anybody who uses AIM and iChat," states David Passell. He forwards this URL. See how ZDNet explains: "End of the line coming for Apple iChat log-ins to AIM on older Macs."
Messages in Mountain Lion
John Carter passes on this info from TakeControl publishers: "Communicate more effectively with 'Take Control of Messages in Mountain Lion.'
"In 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple replaced the long-standing iChat program with Messages, which takes its interface cues from the iPad version of the program. Although Messages looks easy, many people have had trouble understanding how to integrate different chat services and Apple devices, now that messages can appear on Macs, iPhones, and iPads.
"For instance, should you use iMessage or AIM to chat with your friend? What if he's home on his Mac or out while using his iPhone? Can you add someone else to the chat? What if you want to switch to an audio chat? To video? For video, should you use Google Talk or FaceTime? And so on. The mechanics may be simple, but the setup and human interactions are anything but.
"To bring some sense to the situation, we asked networking guru Glenn Fleishman to explain how you can bend Messages to your will, and the fruits of his labor are now available in the 113-page 'Take Control of Messages in Mountain Lion.' The book normally costs $10, but the 30% MUG discount drops that to $7. Learn more about the book via the coupon-loaded link — http://tid.bl.it/tco-messages-mountain-lion-mug-discount
"With this ebook in hand, you'll discover more ways to manage and connect with friends and family than space permits to outline here. Get the ebook and find out.
"As always, thank you for your support of the Take Control series!
"Cheers... Adam & Tonya Engst, Take Control publishers."
Screen Sharing Explained
Explaining screen sharing, John Carter says, "Now that I have Mountain Lion on my iMac and having discovered that iChat has been replaced with iMessages, I poked around until I discovered that screen sharing is still available with Mountain Lion. It just wasn't as obvious to me as it was before. Now that I know where it is and how to show my Buddy list, getting to screen sharing is actually quite simple.
"The Buddy list in iMessages is the same as with iChat, so no surprises there. If the Buddy list doesn't show up right when you start iMessages, the hotkey Cmd-1 will bring it up or put it away (it's a toggle, just like in iChat).
"The real change is that the old iChat is now broken up into iMessages and FaceTime. You can start a video chat in either FaceTime or iMessages, but you can only start a text or voice chat in iMessages and you can only do screen sharing in iMessages. When doing a video chat in iMessages, it brings up FaceTime."
Got it? If not, let John Carter know. He teaches SIGs and helps make computers easier to do!
Skype Alternatives for Mac Users
Recommended by Jim Hamm here's a link to David Alison's blog which gives a good summary of various alternatives to Skype: FaceTime, Google GTalk and iChat.