The default aim client and the vi editor do not play well together.
About once every week or two, I'll be typing away in vi, and I'll hit the escape key right at the same time that someone sends me an instant message. If you're familiar with vi, you'll know that you hit the escape key quite frequently in this editor. Probably even more often than you hit the return key.
Anyway, when this unfortunate confluence of events occurs, aim will grab my keyboard focus just before I hit escape, which then causes the aim window to disappear. This happens so quickly that I don't even have time to see who sent the im in the first place.
One solution to this problem would be to use a different aim client. But since aol keeps blocking other im clients, this isn't the most convenient alternative.
So the technique I've been using is to sign off and then back on, hoping that the person who sent me the message will notice, decide that I might have an unreliable connection, and resend the message.
Posted on April 9, 2003 01:52 PM
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use trillian. It even logs your conversations.
Posted by: drlloyd at April 9, 2003 04:42 PMI use Gaim... is that the one ? On linux w/ Gnome Gaim seems to play nicely with GVIM...
Posted by: Wisp at April 10, 2003 03:53 PMTrillian is actually the one I linked to as "different aim client". :)
Posted by: kim at April 11, 2003 05:49 PMActually, I would argue that any application that grabs the keyboard focus on its own initiative doesn't play well with any user who types at all quickly. I've had trouble with dialog boxes popping up where the space-bar invokes the default button, just as I try to type a space into some other window.
Grabbing the focus is an application's way of saying "I know what you should be doing right now, better than you do!"
Posted by: Jeremy Leader at April 14, 2003 06:48 PMThere is an option in preferences to have all new IM windows minimized. It wouldnt steal focus then.
Posted by: Mr. Klean at September 8, 2004 04:34 PM