While I applaud efforts by programmers as they come up with new and interesting ideas, I don't particularly feel obligated to do so when there is nothing innovative here--especially in an already crowded field with infinitely better alternatives.

This is one of those cases. Someone already mentioned Adium. I am in no way affiliated with the hard-working folks at Adium and still await their eventual ability to come with video chat capability like iChat or Skype has--but their free application is definitely innovative. They put the entire spectrum of various chat clients ''under one roof'' without advertising or other ''blinky'' overhead. No longer does one have to have all sorts of separate chat clients open cluttering things up and hogging resources.

What I'm saying in a nutshell to hard-working programmers like the one who has brought Psi here: Don't try to reinvent the wheel. How about getting involved with the folks at Adium and add your expertise and ideas there? They have hands-down the best non-Apple free chat client out there. Seriously.

Just a friendly suggestion.