As ever with IRCNews we are always trying to speak to the "right people" and in general thats the people whom are out there coding the things we use everyday on IRC be it clients, bots, ircds or even a services package. We managed to pull Casey of the savIRC team away from coding for a few moments to do a short interview. To give you a little background on the interview process it did actually start some time ago prior to us becoming IRCNews - I actually forgot to inform Casey about the email change and he came and found myself.

The interview is below and of course remember if there are any questions you have that are not covered here you can always take a wander to savIRC's homepage and review there content and information pages and of course speak to them on IRC (information on where and how below)

savIRC is a cross-platform open source client. We aim for usability, functionality and speed.

2. How many people make up the development side of things within savIRC

Currently it is just phobie and myself. Occasionally we'll have someone who submits a patch or files a bug report.

3. Whats your role within the development side of things

I deal mostly with the graphical end of development, along with maintaining the savIRC Handbook, and website.

4. Why should a user choose savIRC over other client

Usability, Functionality, and Speed. :)

5. What are the key/unique features of savIRC

If you use any type of control code (i.e. bold/underline/colors), you are able to preview your text. This makes it much easier if you are doing complex tasks using these codes.
You can paste to channel/query/chat window without worrying about:

• Flooding yourself off the server
• Chopping up text into 'sizable' pieces because the client isn't smart enough to do it,
• Getting yourself kicked because you're flooding[1]

6. Can you give our readers any insight into any future features?

No. But good things are coming.

7. Does savIRC mean anything in particular?

Yes. The original Author's name is Saverio. He named it after himself. Other than that; no it doesn't. :)

8. Do you still enjoy using IRC as a user as much as you did prior to your development work on savIRC?

Short answer:

Yes, usually.

Long Answer:
I've been using IRC for 10 years so after using it this long i've gotten used to the 'addictibility', and have over come it. Real life comes first. I don't enjoy IRC less than I did originally, but I do spend less time on it. And in only a few channels, with very low visitors (other than the regulars).

9. Are there any hidden features/easter eggs in savIRC you can tell our users about?

Some; go to Help > About; put your mouse cursor over Saverio's image.

I wrote a command to change the color of 'active' text on the channel/query/chat buttons, allowing people to change it from red (the default), to whatever color that they want. This feature is only available if you write a line of code. Scriptable feature, if you will.

10. What do you personally like about savIRC over other clients

• If I don't like it, I can change it.
• Works on Windows and *nix; and behaves/appears the nearly the same.
• It's modeled after mIRC, and that is what I 'grew up on'. It gives the user a basic UI, unlike some of these other new IRC clients, that make it seem more like a 'toy'.

11. Where do you see savIRC in 1, 5 and 10 years from now?

I have grand plans, just ask phobie. But even this question, I don't think I can answer. The last few years we have been cleaning up the savIRC codebase, and massaging it into a more developer friendly environment. While this has caused us not to make many releases, with a lot of improvements. We have managed to make it easier to work with. So if I had to guess, i'd say in 1 year, we will have atleast two releases with large improvements to the GUI. But I cannot even start with 5 or 10 years. What would you like to see in that time?

12. Are [there] any plans to change the license of savIRC along the way or offer a pro version?

No. Open Source has given me so much, this is the least I can do. Not to mention it being a hassle hunting down people who have contributed to ask for their blessing.

13. If you could chance one thing about savIRC - what would that be? (This reply is based upon "chance" being
"change")

I don't think I would. However, phobie would probably make it python code. :)

14. Where can users get support, information and more importantly download savIRC?

• Support: IRC: Undernet / #savirc
• Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or email one of us directly. email addresses are listed on our Contact page.
• Information: http://www.savirc.com/Docs/bk01.html
• Download: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=27585

15. Anything else you would like to share with our users?

If you use and like savIRC; but come across a bug. Please take the time to search in our bug database and see if it exists, if it doesn't exist please file a report. If we don't know about it, we can't fix it! Also, feedback is terrific. As with bugs, we can't do anything if we aren't told about it.

[1] This also depends on what people's script levels are set to. We can't help it if their scripts are very strict.