iChat groups via Bonjour

[Scot Hacker]

On May 23, 2007, at 11:19 AM, Scot Hacker wrote:

> For a non-Bonjour iChat buddy  list, I can initiate a group chat by  
> Cmd-clicking buddies and clicking "A." Or do File | New Chat and  
> click  "+" to add people to  the group.

Appears I've found my answer:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1690506

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Unfortunately, group chat is not possible over Bonjour, for the  
simple reason that there is no central server for all interested  
parties to connect. Apple has not built-in the functionality for one  
person to effectively start a server to host a group chat, mainly  
because it is not trivial to start such a service, especially for  
something that may not be used as often as a direct host-to-host chat  
session.

In terms of "local" server solutions, Apple has built Jabber (open- 
source chat server) into 10.4 server, making it possible to create  
your own iChat server, that can be used for group chats on a local  
network. Overkill for just wanting a local group chat, but an answer  
nonetheless.

For simplicity's sake, group chat using AIM servers are usually the  
easiest game in town.
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Ah well.

./s