I know this news is a little late, but I've been busy :) Funpidgin is now known as Carrier Instant Messenger. This name was suggested by Peter Nikolaidis of the Fresh Ubuntu podcast and the rest of the devs and users we talked to all agreed that it was perfect. We're still working on a final logo, but at least we have a name! And soon we'll also have a new website.

Development-wise, we just recently released version 2.4.2, merging changes from Pidgin upstream and packaging our new features from SVN like webkit-integration for Adium conversation styles, or the old Gaim-style protocol icons. Read the features page and the release announcement for more details, or just go and download it now :P

Today I found out that you could directly upgrade from Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake to 8.04. I know, I know... that should have been obvious given that they're both Long-Term Support releases. Anyway, moving right along... the instructions were found here and overall the whole process was very simple besides being constantly asked if I wanted to replace old config files with the newer versions. Looks like my concerns in this post were mostly moot, so far, no problems! *knock on wood*

Today I was interviewed on the Fresh Ubuntu podcast (listen to it here) about a little project I've been working on called Funpidgin (name subject to change). Overall the purpose was to clear up some misconceptions behind the reasons for forking from Pidgin, the program we're based on. I also wanted to share some of our plans for where we're headed. The interview was great, Nikolaidis and Harlem are excellent hosts, and my only regret was having to do it over the phone instead of Skype. Go ahead and have a listen, the first 11 minutes or so contain the interview.

Still working on a new theme for the site, as can be seen. There's still a lot of stuff that doesn't look right, I'm working on it. I'll be adding more graphics as soon as I'm feeling more creative.

Update: The new theme's feeling pretty complete now. There's a couple areas that still need some work, but for the most part it's done. Still trying to figure out how I can package it separately from it's Zen base-theme, but I need a name before I do that. Right now it's named Nails, because it was inspired by the layout on NIN.com.