I just implemented Openfire at my workplace, and we use Spark. We use a variety of PPC & Intel Apple workstations. I would like to know if it is possible to utilize the following concept:
When someone sends out a broadcast to multiple users, all of those users are able to interact with each other through that broadcasted message. Think like an invite to a Conference room, but based on the Broadcast Message. This is a feature that is part of AIM Blast, which I found too impractical to use for our organization.
So basically, when you broadcast a message, instead of each individual person responding to the broadcast, EVERYONE that sees the broadcasted message can interactively comment on it and with each other.
Is this feature possible in the current versions of Openfire and Spark? Or maybe this feature could be added in the future?
There is no option exactly as you have described. But you can just send invites to multiple contacts to join ad-hoc conference. Such conference room will be created automatically with a random name once you send the invites. Then those users will have to press Accept in such invite and they will automatically join this room. In Spark you can press Actions > Start a conference… There you can specify a message the contact should receive, enter JIDs manually or just select (with Ctrl) from your Roster. Also you cna create ad-hoc conference directly from the chat window, when you are talking with someone. There is a button on the toolbar. This button will automatically create a room and send an invite to a person you are talking with. Then you’ll be able to invite additional people to that room.
Thank you for your answer. It is unfortunate that this feature is not yet available, but considering that AIM Blast can do it, turning an announcement into a conference chat (instead of just sending out invites) is something I hope the Openfire devs consider in the future.
And I hate hate HATE to be a prude and point it out, but diverting from my question with an explanation on how to do a Conference chat was highly unnecessary. A similar situation would be a car mechanic asking how to divert something in the engine, and the other mechanic responds by saying “no, but here’s how car stereos work”.
I am grateful for your answer, though. Saying “no it isn’t” is a lot better than not replying at all.
Openfire and Spark features are usually based on XMPP standards. Also, such feature looks like a complex one. So it’s unlikely it will be implemented in the near future. Especially when Openfire and Spark are not in very active development. Official devs (Jive) have almost abandoned these projects and only a few community folks are doing some patching and coding. Things are moving slowly so far.
That is even more unfortunate We are totally digging this service here at our organization. It was exactly what we needed, as I don’t know of any service out there that can do broadcast IM’s that don’t give you extreme headaches in registering username/passwords.