Jabbering along with tkcJabber

Since its public release early this year, the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 has been lauded as an extremely powerful PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). Even the general media, such as eWEEK and MSNBC, have noted how the Zaurus is almost like a laptop in a smaller form factor. Especially now with the advent of Sharp Mobile Services, the SL-5500, with its retractable keyboard, seems well suited to mobile communications.

Yet, obviously there is something missing from this puzzle - that is, the communications software. While the Zaurus actually has an extremely competent connectivity suite, no instant messaging software is included. Especially with the aforementioned keyboard, this device begs for that type of software, and tkcJabber answers the call.



TkcJabber, which is produced by Rancho Santa Margarita, California-based theKompany, Inc., is a client for the Free Software instant messaging system known as Jabber. Jabber works in much the same fashion as better known protocols such as AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, allowing you to have real-time conversations with others. Unlike the others, however, Jabber does not have a central server like those services, but instead uses a decentralized system similar to the way e-mail works.



This decentralized design makes Jabber (and by extension, tkcJabber) very attractive in that you can easily setup a private Jabber server for your company, and still keep the ability to communicate with other Jabber users using public Jabber systems. While discussing Jabber servers is beyond the scope of this piece, you can find more information about Jabber at the Jabber.org web site.



Moving back to tkcJabber, not only does it depend on a good backend for enterprise deployment, but the interface is quite likeable too. To maximize usage of the small PDA screen, tkcJabber uses a totally iconic interface. The layout can be confusing at first, but becomes a snap to navigate around within minutes of getting started. Elegant interfaces like this one are surely why this company has become, as theKompany president Shawn Gordon noted, “the main software supplier for the Sharp Zaurus.”



The interface is wisely divided into two separate modes - conversation mode and buddy list mode. Buddy list mode features a convenient tabbed interface, like that of the GAIM instant messaging program for Linux desktops, making it easy to have of multiple conversations at once. The buddy list is similar to other IM buddy lists, showing you who is online, and bringing up a conversation tab (in the other mode) if you tap a name.



Like other Zaurus applications, tkcJabber accepts input using the SL-5500's handy slide-out keyboard, on-screen handwriting recognition, or cell-phone style pickboard. Naturally, the keyboard makes wireless instant messaging much more pleasant than on other devices.



Still tkcJabber's interface is not without its own set of quirks that are somewhat frustrating. For instance, it seems that once contacts are added to the buddy list, there is no way of editing them. If you accidentally misspell the information for a contact, you are forced to delete the contact and reenter it. It also seemed odd to us that tapping a contact on the list did not bring up the conversation tab, instead making you manually flip over to conversation mode to get to the conversation tab.



Overall we were quite pleased with tkcJabber's functionality and friendly user interface. It would be nice if the Jabber system had reliable compatibility with more popular protocols such as AIM (this is an issue with the server and not tkcJabber), however in an enterprise setting this may not be necessary. If you plan to use your enterprise IM deployments purely for in-house communication, tkcJabber combined with a Jabber server is a very good choice.

Summary of tkcJabber < td> Overall: A B C D F Installation: A B C D F Functionality: A B C D F
User Interface:	A B C D F
Total Cost of Ownership:	A B C D F
Deploy:	< table width=”100%” cellspan=”0” cellspacing=”1”>
YES	NO	MAYBE

PROS:	CONS:
User friendly Convenient Works with Jabber, IRC, and sometimes other protocols. Jabber base can provide a free intranet-based IM solution.	Proprietary Limited by Jabber's capabilities

TheKompany's tkcJabber is a showcase for the way user interfaces should work on a PDA. If you've decided to standardize
on a Jabber server for your enterprise IM deployment, tkcJabber is an application you shouldn't overlook.
(www.thekompany.com/ embedded, $19.95.)


Timothy R. Butler is Editor-in-Chief of Open for Business. You can reach him at tbutler@uninetsolutions. com.