Office Communicator service provided by CERN

Note2: There is another howto for generic clients.

Using CERN Office Communicator with Pidgin (Windows/Linux/MacOS)

1. Install Pidgin, an easy to use and free multi-platform chat client that connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.
   1. Install in Windows
   2. Install in RHEL / CentOS
   3. Install in Fedora Core
   4. Install in Mac OS X
   5. Install in Ubuntu
2. Install the SIPE plugin.
   1. Default Ubuntu 9.04 repositories contain an old version that will not work with the CERN one, so please use the installation instructions
   2. There are some incompatible plugins with the setup of the SIPE plugin, so we recommend to disable them all, and once installed and with Pidgin running, enable them again. An example plugin that fails is Music Tracker.
3. Create a new account: Accounts -> Manage Accounts -> Add

• In the Basic tab:
  1. Procotol: Office Communicator
  2. Username: YOUR CERN EMAIL (with @cern.ch)

FAQ

• Does this plugin support voice/video?
  • No it does not.
• Can I search for contacts?
  • Yes. Go to: Accounts -> Your office communicator account -> Contact search...
  • You can also add me and say hello ^_^

More information

• Microsoft Office Communications Server uses a modified and incompatible Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for signalling along with the SIMPLE extensions to SIP for IM and presence.
• OCS Official Web
• OCS Wikipedia entry

Suggestions: If you have suggestions, please send me an email to david.horat@cernNOSPAMPLEASE.ch

-- DavidHorat