Probably for the same reason developers are negative about people coming up and saying, "Hey, I have a great idea for an app/website/..."
They want to fork the project and build a new UI? Cool. Go do it. If people like their changes they'll start using their version of Adium, and other people will contribute to their project.
>"Hey, I have a great idea for an app/website/..."
It's not just an idea. It's a considered UI for the community to critique and possibly implement. An open source project thrives on multiple people to help out. If this mockup was so simple and obvious, it would have existed already.
Unless I can print this out and rub it on my screen to create the code and associated elements needed to make this work, I don't see how this is anything other than a mockup...which is an idea.
If I draw up a floor plan for Cowboy Stadium and post it on the Internet that I think this is how the new Vikings Stadium should look, I believe that would be called an idea.
The posted concept isn't just a copy--there have been decisions made based upon functionality.
To follow the analogy, one could use the Cowboys stadium as a precedent and then adapt it to the climate of Minneapolis.
This isn't a discussion about the codebase because the code can't solve the questions being discussed. There isn't anything in the concept that is out of the realm of feasibility. Critiques happen at all phase of design and development, and you seem like someone who's uncomfortable with ideas that aren't finalized.
No, if I can't run it on my machine then it's just an idea. I didn't say it was a simple or obvious idea - I said it's just an idea.
Anybody can make something pretty in Photoshop. If he was serious about getting people to implement his mockup he should have spent a few days writing a quick and dirty implementation, with real code that could be improved upon later.
It's just a chat app. We all know that programming it is feasible because it has been done hundreds of times before. That part isn't interesting.
What's interesting is the interface, which is why we're discussing it. The fact that you can't run an application doesn't make the concept any more or less interesting to discuss and critique. The issues being discussed aren't solved with code.
Usually those people do not talent or can't execute. Oskar and Dawid have already executed a great design concept and are doing an amazing job evangelizing it in hopes of recruiting a developer to help.
If I had the time and knowledge of the Adium code base I'd be thrilled to collaborate with these two talented individuals. Hopefully there are developers out there with open enough minds, time, and passion to work with these two.
I look forward to seeing you, Oskar, and Dawid all leading the forked (or new) project soon. Please let us know when the repo is available and what you need help with!
They want to fork the project and build a new UI? Cool. Go do it. If people like their changes they'll start using their version of Adium, and other people will contribute to their project.