This weekend we released the first beta of the next version of SoapBox Communicator. This product has been my focus area for a while now and I'm really happy to finally see it out to the public. It is a completely new code base from Communicator 2005 so it's still lacking a few of the features that are in 2005. Why you ask?

SoapBox Communicator 2005 is a thin C++ app with html + javascript code for the UI. While being somewhat extensible it is also cumbersome to work with and doesn't quite mesh with our core technology. We are primarily a .NET shop and our .NET client side SDK libraries are very powerful. It just didn't seem right building an extremely powerful .NET framework and then not using it in our own client development. So, we decided to eat some dogfood and put them to work for the next version of SoapBox Communicator. You can build desktop applications in .NET. Really.

The biggest hurdle is of course the .NET installation. We could have went with .NET 1.1 as it is installed in a huge percentage of PC's out there, but instead decided on .NET 2.0. If you have a modem and no .NET 2.0 isntalled, well, I guess you've got a little while to wait. We made this process as seamless as possible by utilizing our .NET 2.0 bootstrappers. If you don't have 2.0 installed the bootstrapper package will download the pieces you need, get it installed, reboot if necessary (not usually necessary), and then install the SoapBox Communicator. Although it can take a few minutes we think it's worth it. By using .NET the features we can build with high levels of quality in a short time are truly amazing.

Enough about the platform. Now the fun stuff! Since we are going for a major version release we know we have to add some compelling features in there, so, here's a list of my favorites in no particular order. Click on them for screen shots.

• Extremely Rich Messaging, Extremely
  Are you tired of atificially imposed limits in your IM software? We were too. Now the clipboard is your playground. Copy something. Paste it. Send it. It works. Can you paste it into an email in Outlook? Well, then you can do the same in Communicator in real time. Right click for a paste special to choose the format. (You can drag/drop anything too). Share embedded OLE, or a screen shot, or source code from Visual Studio and retain the original formatting. That's why the marketing folk say "Collaborate with the Power of Now".
• The Share Pane
  Though this is part of the rich messaging, it deserves its own section. You can use the share pane for real time collaboration on anything, most interestingly embedded OLE. It's sort of an overloaded "subject" construct. Do you have a screen shot to share with someone that you need feedback on? Well, paste it into the Share Pane and hit Update to send it across without interrupting the conversation flow. Chat about it. Or (this is Jason's favorite demo) copy/paste a section of a Word document in there, click update, and send it to your contact. They can then look at the preview, double click to open it in word, make changes, save them, and update them right back to you. Look for this area getting MUCH richer and more interactive as time goes on.
• Flat, Search Based, Contact List
  As the number of contacts in your list increases the more difficult it becomes to find the person you want to get in contact with. Search, don't scan. We even hook up a global hot key (Windows + C) to get you into the search box. We still have the concept of groups, but they are treated more like tags rather than a hierarchy. Yes, we have a "Classic View" in the roadmap for those of you that like your hierarchy.
• Presence Themes
  Out to lunch? Having some coffee? In the restroom? Express this using graphics rather than just text! Yes, these are extensible -- more on that in another blog.
• Zoom!
  On a rediculously high resolution screen and can't read the text? Forget your reading glasses? Zoom in! I find this most useful for rich messages and the share pane. Sometimes people like to send me things that are just way too big to fit on a screen.
• Automatic Avatar Sizing
  Use ANY, yes ANY image as your avatar. It will automatically be resized. No fuss.
• Neat, Dockable, Flyout Windows
  See more detailed information about your contacts with a quick mouse hover. Dock this window into the contact list, or not.
• Background Color Presence Indicator
  Usually when you're using your contact list you're using it to find someone to collaborate with or see if someone is available. With traditional text or icon based markers this is difficult. With background colors you can tell at a glance. Blue - Online. Yellow - Away. Red - Busy. Gray - Offline.
• UI Themes
  Change the look and feel of the interface to suit your needs. These themes are also extensible -- again another blog.
• Automatic Update Preferences
  Want to run our daily builds (we do internally)? Choose Bleeding Edge updates. Prefer more stable Betas? Or maybe just fully tested official releases? It's up to you.

Ok, that list is getting way too long. Let's just say there is a lot of great new stuff to improve the productivity of your real time communications. In the near future I'll write some more on the technical hurdles to make all this stuff happen and what we have planned for the future. But for now use it, love it or hate it, and tell us about your experience! Click the Tools -> Submit a Bug Report menu item in the contact list. Oh yeah, SoapBox Communicator 2007 runs side by side with 2005 so you don't have to worry about an upgrade messing up your daily routine.