$700
 

http://www.realchat.com/

am i the only one baffled by something like this, why on earth does it cost so much,surely it's not that hard to make and i know it don't cook, clean and entertain, does this price seems excessive to anyone else or am i just excited for nothing :o :nervous:

it sounds preety cool but not at a 700 dollar price tag..

Many businesses cater to other businesses, not consumers. $700 is nothing for most companies.

Your exaggerating the complexity of Java programming. With the features this Java chat has, such as multiple rooms, sounds, etc. It would at least have to be worth $300. Probably one of the best Java chats I've seen.

As Filburt said, it's intended as a business product, not expected as something an average consumer will buy.

Nothing though compared to the most expensive business-oriented software in the world:
http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/ePLext.PDF

;)

yeah i mean this is deff not meant for the small time user.. this is for organzed pros and companys .. hell it gives msn`s own chat a good run for its money

don't suppose someone wants to make the ipb equivalent for me :nervous:

Tis not a good idea to mention those three consecutive characters in that particular order in this forum sabe.

[insert flame here] ;)

MSN is supposed to go subscription only. If that does happen I bet this product sells like hotcakes. $700.00 one time fee will be a bargain for most corps.

I have implemented a lot of chat solutions and integrated many of them into vbulletin either and I can testify Real Chat is the best chat solution of all. It does not only have best features of all chat solutions I have used, it also integrates into vbulletin better than others with many optional parameters you can pass from your board to the chat room to program it as you like. It is highly customizable either.

700 USD might be a lot for personal sites but there are many professional sites around which are only after the best and don't mind the price as much as amateur users.

AutoCad costs thousands of USD, but engineering companies don't compain, do they? ;)

it's that good logician? maybe i should save for it :)

I think it is the best in the market so it is also most expensive. But if you check alternatives you'll see other similiar java chat rooms but their prices are not so cheap either (300-500 USD range). When the price drops, the feature list shrinks accordingly. I'd say instead of aiming the best of market, you should find the best solution according to your needs. ;)

RealChat is very fine for its features but it has its downsides either: It is not very easy to install to your server and it requires a dedicated server. It is very customizable but customization is not easy. Its user interface does not appeal to me much, it is too "fancy" IMO (but needless to say, you can fully change it as you wish). It is very flexible to "program" it but you need time to read through its manual and help docs first to get the grips of it and the programming it is not for newbies. :)

you seem to be the authority on java chat solutions so any recommendations logician?

but yeah.........what is the best free alternative to real chat??
or is ther no such thing?? lol

as I mentioned before you can get java chats in different price ranges and usually what you pay is what you get rule applies. So IMO there is no alternative which is as good as RealChat is and also free!

But if feature list is trivial for you against costs, check sigmachat (http://www.sigmachat.com). It is a java chat with different packages and introductionary package is free. Of course do not expect much, but it provides a basic java chat anyway. If you are happy with it but want more features you can consider upgrading to higher packages. IMO the best part of it is it does not require installation in your server, it is hosted in their site so you don't spend bandwidth for chat. Integration is also easy so does customization as you do it in their user friendly admin cp so you don't need to deal with "paramaters" and "functions" like in realchat.

Bottom line: If you have a small personal site and looking for a basic, easy to implement, free chat site, go with sigmachat.
If you have a moderate site and looking forward for a better chat room, check sigmachat's higher packages or other java chatrooms and find best for you.
If you have a professional site that does not mind money and you are looking for best, go with realchat.

My 2 cents..

thank you logician for the info :D

i guess i'll just gonna use the IRC chat right now til i get more money for real chat :D

*make members click on ads*
lol

woo, now thats a nice chat, i am no company, but I
would pay $700 for that one... in fact I am hoping
to setup my on message forum, and it may just
have that chat.

I think the other guy tried to talk you out of it by
saying it was all complex, thats not quite true,
even the site says its simple setup, and you can
download and try a free demo, as far as having a dedecated server, maybe only if you have 1000+ users online, but for a mere start of just 50-100 or so, i do not see a reason for now.

I plan to start with VB3, but I have no idea what this new stuff is all about, portals, skins, in fact I do not know how to make them, although donation skins will help the board better, if any ideas, please let me know.

you can go to rentacoder.com and bid
out what you want made, I seen a
simple live chat script that was already
made sell for around $200.00

normally there are programmers that already have
this stuff made up, and they may have sold it
to the owner for what they paid, and may sell
it to you even cheaper.. people do not know this,
but the person that actually wrote the script (not
thought it up) has the right to re-sell it to other
consumers.

you may have this aewsome idea for a billion $$ script and
may not want it to get out, but fact is, if the other person wrote it, then that person actaully has all rights to do whatever he wants to with it...

so go bid on chat scripts that have already been sold to the market.

that can be debated, whats the client loss factor
for starting to charge, people are used to free chat,
why would an avg user start now?

I have been to that 2 cent website :)
no offense, but you get no options,
and you get what you pay for, pay
nothing, get nothing... and of course
sigmachat.com is never yours, even though
you pay, it will always belong to someone else.

as for real-chat... you can put realchat on its own
$10 server with SQL if it requires it, and it should do
fine for the bandwith for the time being, as your traffic
gets larger, then you can think about putting it on a better server.

dont think to big, most sites dont get that much traffic, and
traffic is cheap these days...

as for VB, some put the SQL part on one site, and the rest
on another site, this is to ease the tention of a growing
vb message board, and it will run smoother...until
your needs grow.... like i said, most sites personal vb sites
do not even get off the ground....

thanks hvacr, your posts were most informative :)

imo if someone took real chat as a model and developed something for vB it would be bigger than hivemail, as it would enable you to have stuff to integrate it further into the board like some of them post notifier hacks etc, it would be a good business model and something worthwhile thinking about :)

no problem, i plan on using real-chat myself in the future,
when i figure out how this VB3, portals, and hacks
work, do you know anything about stuff like that?

nope, i've not really touches vB3, got way to much going on with vB2 at the moment. but i would suggest checking out www.core-forums.net i think it is, they're got a vB3 portal, also check out www.cpublisher.com i think is the other one. :)

real chat is coming out with version 3.x (skins)
Im sure it will fit in nicely with VB3.

Is this the other guy me? For one thing, I didn't talk out of it, it was me who told it is the best chat room available. Secondly how come you decide its not complex even if you didn't even install it yet? I have installed it to many sites and integrated into many vbulletin boards and I can tell from the experience that its integration is harder than its rivals. "Integration" here means using vb membership info/password, restricting chat users to use their vb usernames, importing vb smilies, applying vb colors and skins to your chat room etc. First do these with real chat and we'll see if it is complex or not ;)

You get a basic chat room your members can join and chat and you get it for free. I have never told it is as good as real chat (or even other chat rooms) but how can you compare a chat room that you get for free with another chat room that is 700 USD?

It may not appeal to your high expectations but it was not intended to do so anyway. There are many personal websites around which do not even have a dedicated server (so how are they suppose to install realchat?) and sigmachat can be alternative to them if they are after a basic but free alternative. Besides its being hosted in another site is a big plus for many websites that has bandwidth problems. Please note everbody's expactations and priorities are different on this issue and I just tried go give alternatives for everybody so that all can decide according to his own needs. We are not betting on chat room scripts here.