Dear iChat,

Dear iChat,


Thank you for being the coolest, Jetson's thing ever.  I know, people can video talk on their phones and all that now, but still, iChat, you are pretty cool.


First, you have saved me from a very large, looming, headache.  My 73 year old father has a new Mac and your app has made it so that he can call me and I CAN TAKE CONTROL OF HIS COMPUTER!  Now when he calls me, like last night, and says that he can't get any e-mail, code for "no one has sent me anything," I can jump on his computer and close the 105 windows he has open and make sure his e-mail is still set up correctly.  Woot!


But, iChat, there is a set back.  Is there any possible way that you can design your app to disable the screensaver when the video chat is on?  After "fixing" Dad's computer last night we started video chatting and my Mother joined in.  This is all well and good until my Dad's screen saver changes and my Mother's attention jumps from the conversation to the pretty poppies on the screen.  Except, it's more like I *think* my mother is telling me that they have poppies in the yard....or poppies from the market...since poppies are suddenly part of the conversation, then I realize my Mother is distracted by the screen saver.  This happened 10 times last night!


You see, when you are in your 70's, and self admittedly not very computer savvy, it doesn't occur to you that even though you are video chatting, the person you are chatting with is not seeing your screen, only the direction your camera is pointed.  Oh, there was also the "what a pretty vest you are wearing" comment and my Mother proceeded to start taking said vest off and searching pockets and showing us all the features and tags to the point that my 14 year old asked her if she had any ones.  (Not my proudest parental moment, by the way.)  Hmmm.  Okay, it's not so much a app issue as a Mother issue I guess.


My kids, on the other hand amused themselves by hanging their nose over the top of the camera, making fish shapes with their hands across the screen and showing off their mad photobooth skillz.


Thanks iChat, for all the entertainment!


Careless