Digsby
Encyclopedia
Digsby is a freeware
proprietary
multiprotocol instant messaging application
developed by dotSyntax, LLC. Digsby is written in Python
and uses wxPython
as its widget toolkit and WebKit
for rendering. It supports most mainstream IM services such as AOL Instant Messenger
, Microsoft
's .NET Messenger Service
, Yahoo! Messenger
, ICQ
, Facebook Chat, MySpace IM and XMPP/Jabber
-based services such as Google Talk
and LiveJournal
's IM. Secondly, Digsby supports e-mail notifications via POP, IMAP and webmail like AOL, Yahoo! and Hotmail - including the ability to mark messages as read, as spam or delete them from the client itself. Finally, Digsby also supports alerts and newsfeeds from MySpace
, Facebook
, Twitter
and LinkedIn
. Digsby has built in additional features such as customizable skins for the client and IM windows, aggregated web search from within the client via multiple sites, composing emails from IM windows, combining friends from multiple clients into one contact listing, and even a separable Twitter client with unique features such as chronological streaming (oldest to newest). It is released free under a proprietary
license. Development is funded through optional sponsored add-on applications via installer and distributed computing
. It needs registration, which can be done through the program's installer or through a web interface. As of March 20, 2008, the Digsby application is in its public beta stage of development and is still available for Windows only (Mac & Linux versions continue to be forthcoming).
. Later, he decided to materialize this project into an actual application by forming a team of developers, who began to code Digsby.
It took two years to code Digsby until its public launch in March 2008. Initially, the idea was to make a basic multi-protocol IM client. The email notification and the social networking site integration were both added later on in development.
On April 19, 2011, Digsby announced that it was acquired by Tagged.
domain name.
The Digsby mascot
was designed by Hewlett Packard's Logoworks
. The idea was to have an actual mascot, rather than just a logo
. Quoting Steve,
it for a personalized look. Users can set custom notifications for various actions such as contacts signing in and out, messages sent and received, etc. It supports meta-contacts, which is a drag-and-drop system that allows a user to have one alias for a contact who uses multiple IM protocols with different accounts. Buddy list, IM accounts, widgets, and application settings are synchronized on Digsby's server, so all user settings can be transferred between installations on other computers.
Digsby's distributed computing function, which uses Plura Processing, has been a subject of criticism both for its CPU and power consumption. Digsby developer "chris" responded by saying that CPU usage is limited to 75% for desktops, and 25% for laptops unless operating on battery power. Recent versions of Digsby allow the user to manage the "research module" after installation by specifying the amount of memory/CPU the module is allowed to utilize or by disabling it entirely.
Digsby has announced they will try to make their policies more transparent.
In 2008, Digsby was bundled with a Windows installer named "InstallIQ" which brought with it other security and privacy concerns. InstallIQ provided search information to Freeze.com and forced web-based redirects in FireFox and Internet Explorer without user prompts.
As of 2010, Digsby optionally appends an advertisement to the end of a user's status message. While this can be disabled, it defaults to enabled when a user first installs the program. In December 2010, Digsby made an ad banner appear by default at the bottom of every chat window in use. This can be disabled by going through Preferences > Conversations and unchecking the first box.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
multiprotocol instant messaging application
Multiprotocol instant messaging application
A multiprotocol instant messaging application is client software composed of an IM application which may connect to multiple IM networks. The networks supported include: AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, XMPP , MSN Messenger, QQ, Yahoo! Messenger, as well as specialized networks such as Novell GroupWise...
developed by dotSyntax, LLC. Digsby is written in Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
and uses wxPython
WxPython
-External links:* * at showmedo...
as its widget toolkit and WebKit
WebKit
WebKit is a layout engine designed to allow web browsers to render web pages. WebKit powers Google Chrome and Apple Safari and by October 2011 held over 33% of the browser market share between them. It is also used as the basis for the experimental browser included with the Amazon Kindle ebook...
for rendering. It supports most mainstream IM services such as AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's .NET Messenger Service
.NET Messenger Service
The .NET Messenger Service is an instant messaging and presence system developed by Microsoft in 1999 for use with its MSN Messenger software and used today by its current instant messaging clients, Windows Live Messenger and Microsoft Messenger for Mac...
, Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!...
, ICQ
ICQ
ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...
, Facebook Chat, MySpace IM and XMPP/Jabber
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
-based services such as Google Talk
Google Talk
Google Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
and LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
's IM. Secondly, Digsby supports e-mail notifications via POP, IMAP and webmail like AOL, Yahoo! and Hotmail - including the ability to mark messages as read, as spam or delete them from the client itself. Finally, Digsby also supports alerts and newsfeeds from MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and LinkedIn
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
. Digsby has built in additional features such as customizable skins for the client and IM windows, aggregated web search from within the client via multiple sites, composing emails from IM windows, combining friends from multiple clients into one contact listing, and even a separable Twitter client with unique features such as chronological streaming (oldest to newest). It is released free under a proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
license. Development is funded through optional sponsored add-on applications via installer and distributed computing
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
. It needs registration, which can be done through the program's installer or through a web interface. As of March 20, 2008, the Digsby application is in its public beta stage of development and is still available for Windows only (Mac & Linux versions continue to be forthcoming).
History
Digsby started as the school project of Steve Shapiro. Digsby was Steve's project while he was working on his MBA from the Rochester Institute of TechnologyRochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
. Later, he decided to materialize this project into an actual application by forming a team of developers, who began to code Digsby.
It took two years to code Digsby until its public launch in March 2008. Initially, the idea was to make a basic multi-protocol IM client. The email notification and the social networking site integration were both added later on in development.
On April 19, 2011, Digsby announced that it was acquired by Tagged.
Name and Mascot
The name Digsby was thought of as a name that was simple, easy to spell and remember, something that sounded like fun, and most importantly, something that had yet to be registered as a .com.com
The domain name com is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from commercial, indicating its original intended purpose for domains registered by commercial organizations...
domain name.
The Digsby mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
was designed by Hewlett Packard's Logoworks
Logoworks
Logoworks by HP is an online graphic design company that provides logo design, brochure design, web design, and advertising services primarily for small businesses...
. The idea was to have an actual mascot, rather than just a logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
. Quoting Steve,
Supported IM protocols
- Microsoft Notification Protocol (.NET Messenger Service.NET Messenger ServiceThe .NET Messenger Service is an instant messaging and presence system developed by Microsoft in 1999 for use with its MSN Messenger software and used today by its current instant messaging clients, Windows Live Messenger and Microsoft Messenger for Mac...
/Windows Live MessengerWindows Live MessengerWindows Live Messenger is an instant messaging client created by Microsoft that is currently designed to work with Windows XP , Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Xbox 360, Blackberry OS, iOS, Java ME, S60 on Symbian OS 9.x and Zune HD...
, commonly known as MSN) - OSCAROSCAR protocolOSCAR or Open System for CommunicAtion in Realtime is AOL's flagship instant messaging and presence information protocol. Currently, OSCAR is in use for AOL's two main instant messaging systems: ICQ and AIM....
(AIMAOL Instant MessengerAOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
/ICQICQICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...
/MobileMeMobileMeMobileMe was a subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. Originally launched on January 5, 2000, as iTools, a free collection of Internet-based services for users of Mac OS 9, Apple relaunched it as .Mac on July 17, 2002, when it became a paid subscription...
) - XMPP/JabberExtensible Messaging and Presence ProtocolExtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
(Google TalkGoogle TalkGoogle Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
, Facebook Chat, Live Journal's IM, et al.) - Yahoo! Messenger Protocol
- MySpace IM
Supported Email
The program includes a rudimentary email client, with e-mail notifications. It automatically retrieves a "from" email address from the logged in instant messaging profiles.- GmailGmailGmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
- Yahoo! MailYahoo! MailYahoo! Mail is a web mail service provided by Yahoo!. It was inaugurated in 1997, and, according to comScore, Yahoo! Mail was the second largest web-based email service with 273.1 million users as of November 2010....
- HotmailHotmailWindows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
- AOL Mail
- POPPost Office ProtocolIn computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...
/IMAP email
Supported Social networks
Digsby allows users to add social networking sites to the application:- MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
: Shows updates to a user's friends' profiles, status, and private messages, and instant access to various parts of their MySpace account, such as their profile, home page, blog, etc. - FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
: Shows updates in a user's friend feeds. - TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
: Allows users to easily submit new "tweets", and view their friends' tweets. - LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
: Shows various updates from a user's friends.
Buddy list
It is possible to customize the buddy list by re-arranging of all aspects of it and skinningSkin (computing)
In computing, a skin is a custom graphical appearance achieved by the use of a graphical user interface that can be applied to specific software and websites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users....
it for a personalized look. Users can set custom notifications for various actions such as contacts signing in and out, messages sent and received, etc. It supports meta-contacts, which is a drag-and-drop system that allows a user to have one alias for a contact who uses multiple IM protocols with different accounts. Buddy list, IM accounts, widgets, and application settings are synchronized on Digsby's server, so all user settings can be transferred between installations on other computers.
Limitations
A common feature in equivalent multi-protocol IM clients is missing, which is IRC support.Privacy and other concerns
As of August 18, 2009, the Digsby installer provides a Google search plugin called "Digsby-powered Google Search". The add-on redirects Google searches through Digsby.com, which remains enabled after the uninstall process.Digsby's distributed computing function, which uses Plura Processing, has been a subject of criticism both for its CPU and power consumption. Digsby developer "chris" responded by saying that CPU usage is limited to 75% for desktops, and 25% for laptops unless operating on battery power. Recent versions of Digsby allow the user to manage the "research module" after installation by specifying the amount of memory/CPU the module is allowed to utilize or by disabling it entirely.
Digsby has announced they will try to make their policies more transparent.
In 2008, Digsby was bundled with a Windows installer named "InstallIQ" which brought with it other security and privacy concerns. InstallIQ provided search information to Freeze.com and forced web-based redirects in FireFox and Internet Explorer without user prompts.
As of 2010, Digsby optionally appends an advertisement to the end of a user's status message. While this can be disabled, it defaults to enabled when a user first installs the program. In December 2010, Digsby made an ad banner appear by default at the bottom of every chat window in use. This can be disabled by going through Preferences > Conversations and unchecking the first box.