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Screenshot  | |
| Original author(s) | Xavier Claessens |
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| Developer(s) | Guillaume Desmottes, Xavier Claessens |
| Final release | 3.12.14[1]  / 26 August 2017 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | BSD,Linux, OtherUnix-like |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Type | Instant messagingclient |
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Website | wiki |
Empathy is a discontinuedinstant messaging (IM) andvoice over IP (VoIP)client which supports text, voice, video, file transfers, and inter-application communication over various IMcommunication protocols.
Empathy was created by forking the Gossip project started by Michael Hallendal, Richard Hult and later maintained by Martyn Russell. It was forked because there were disagreements amongst contributors about the backend at the time. It was initially completelyXMPP based (similar to Google Talk and Facebook's chat implementations), but others wanted it to use theTelepathy stack. This led to the forking and new name Empathy.
Empathy also provides a collection of reusablegraphical user interfacewidgets for developing instant messaging clients[2] for theGNOME desktop. It is written as extension to theTelepathy framework, for connecting to different instant messaging networks with a unifieduser interface.
Empathy has been included in the GNOME desktop since its version 2.24,[3][4] inUbuntu since version9.10 (Karmic Koala), and inFedora since version12 (Constantine); Empathy has replacedPidgin as their default messenger application.
Empathy is no longer under development by the GNOME team.[5]
Empathy natively supports protocols, implemented inTelepathy framework:XMPP (including configuration forFacebook IM,Google Talk, thoughGizmo5,LiveJournal Talk,Nokia Ovi and other Jabber servers also supported),salut link-local XMPP for local network peer discovery,MSNP (toMicrosoft Messenger service as used byMSN Messenger orWindows Live Messenger),IRC andSIP. Additional protocols are supported withlibpurple plug-in:OSCAR (AIM/ICQ/MobileMe),Bonjour (Apple's implementation ofZeroconf),MySpaceIM,QQ,MXit,Novell GroupWise,YMSG,Gadu-Gadu,Lotus Sametime,SIMPLE,SILC,Zephyr.
Automatic features includeauto away andextended away using gnome-screensaver, andauto re-connect usingNetworkManager. One-on-one and group chats includesmileys andspell checking. Conversation windows can bethemed. Conversations can be logged, which can be viewed or searched, and prepended to new chats.
Additional features include:
Ryan Paul atArs Technica wrote in March 2009, "Empathy's highly modular design, basic video chat capabilities, and excellent support for desktop integration are all major assets."[3] He stated that it had "improved", but it was "rough around the edges", noting that at the time it had not yet "been included in any major Linux distribution" citing an Ubuntu usability study.[3]
In November 2009, after Empathy replacedPidgin (andEkiga)[7] in Ubuntu 9.10, Ryan wrote: "Although Empathy has improved a lot over the past year, it's still not stable. It crashed quite a few times during my tests and exhibited a number of other minor bugs. It's adequate for basic chatting…".[8] In his extended review of Ubuntu 9.10, Igor Ljubunčić was terse about the switch from Pidgin to Empathy: "Personally, I see no value in the change, especially since Empathy supports less networks."[9]Tom's Hardware reviewer Adam Overa referred to the switch to the "much less popular and compatible Empathy client", as "[p]robably the most controversial change in Ubuntu 9.10", noting that a "firestorm of debate has been raging over this topic among developers and users alike ever since the announcement to replace Pidgin was made…" in 2009.[7]
In 2010, Empathy was listed as one of "5 open source VoIP softphones to watch" by Rodney Gedda ofComputerworld magazine.[10]
Unlike clients supportingOff-the-Record Messaging (OTR), Empathy lacksprivacy andsecurity facilities enforced through technical means. Empathy's developers do not consider it within the client's scope to implement OTR, while leaving the possibility of supporting potential future protocol-level encryption standards open.[11]
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