Feature request: add "buddy pounce"

[bmaupin]

Binary package hint: empathy

I read here to create a bug with Bugzilla and link it here: https://answers.launchpad.net/empathy/+question/44246

So I've filed this bug with Gnome's Bugzilla here: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=631680

Here's the text from the Bugzilla bug report:

Since Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default chat client for Ubuntu, it'd be great to have a "buddy pounce" feature, since Pidgin had one. It allows you to flag a contact and be notified when that contact is available for chat, so you can move on to something else and not have to worry about checking every few minutes whether that contact is online.

Here's what it looks like in Pidgin:

http://blog.shankarganesh.com/2007/06/24/pidgin-notification-when-a-buddy-comes-online/

[bmaupin (bmaupin)]

Looks like this bug was already reported, closed (which is maybe why I couldn't find it in a search), and they aren't going to add this feature. Why did Ubuntu switch to Empathy again? The developer's response was to write a separate application:

"This kind of things shouldn't be part of Empathy. It could MAYBE be done as a plugin but as Empathy doesn't have any plugin system (bug #547208) and there is no plan to add one for now, I'd say this should be a separated application. Now that Empathy uses MC5, I think you should be implement most of the actions in a separated application."

-1 for Empathy

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=576120

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

maybe empathy will get this feature when they implement the plugins interface.

[johan splinter (kwazel)]

What the? A separate application for something as simple as buddy pounces? Do I need a separate applications for online notifications as well? Why not a separate application for all my accounts?
-1 for Empathy

[Elijah Bailey (lijebailey)]

i want pidgin back :(

[bmaupin (bmaupin)]

sudo apt-get -y remove empathy && sudo apt-get -y install pidgin

(Type it in the Terminal app)

:)