With Empathy replacing the ever so popular IM client, Pidgin, from two of the most popular Linux distros, Ubuntu 9.10 and Fedora 12, as the default IM client, it certainly is a big deal right now. Along with Empathy, the much hyped Telepathy is also making a lot of noise in the build up to the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.

At the Telepathy Session in the GNOME Summit in Boston, the Telepathy and Empathy were discussed at length along with its underlying principles and the future of Empathy. Here is a brief description of what the the future might hold for Empathy and Telepathy:

Empathy may integrate completely into the desktop

This means that Empathy may be integrated into the whole desktop experience rather than have it running as a seperate IM client. This is a distinct possibility because of Empathy uses Telepathy and is possibly the biggest reason why major Linux distros are moving over to Empathy. This implies that the GNOME shell may take over a major part of its functionality, thereby reducing or possibly eliminating the need of Empathy or any IM client for that matter.

Telepathy will most likely not become a social networking tool

The question was inevitable, will Tepathy support updating Facebook status or Tweeting? The answer to the question appears to be no. According to the developers Telapathy only make sense for real time communication like the Facebook chat. Other than that stuffs like wall posts, status updates and tweeting doesn't seem to be something that Telepathy will be supporting anytime soon

Telepathy may support IAX2

The developers have mentioned that support for IAX2, is indeed possible. However, it is not a priority for them but are keen to have people working on it.

via Robotic Tendencies