questions..
Can I send files and chat at the same time?
When do you plan to add multiple chatting?
I want to wire more than one person at once! How?
Can I connect to someone before they are "waiting"?
Is there a limit to the size of files I can send.
Is there a resume facility?
How do I get my own IP to give to others?
How secure is the secure chat?
What if one has secure chat enabled and the other doesn't?
Is the file transfer secure?
I'm having trouble connecting/transfering files. what can I do?

q.  Can I send files and chat at the same time?
a.  Yes.

q.  When do you plan to add multiple chatting?
a.  I dont. the±wire is for two humans only. If you want to chat with hundreds of people, log onto IRC.

q.  I want to wire more than one person at once! How?
a.  Yeah okay! I hear ya! Well, no problem, just run multiple copies!
On OS X, you'll need to make physically seperate copies to achieve this. Just rename them, "wire2", "wire3" or whatever.

q.  Can I connect to someone before they are "waiting"?
a.  Yes, though obviously you will only make the actual connexion once they come online and begin to wait. (works like dialling 5 when you get an engaged tone in the UK, except cheaper ;o)

q.  Is there a limit to the size of files I can send.
a.  No. Having said that, the drag-n-send™ technology was developed for sharing images, and then extended to cover "wee files". I've transfered 700MB CD images over my local network without difficulty, but wouldn't dare try that over the internet, big files can take a long time to send, especially on slow connexions like dial-up. If you plan to transfer a lot of big files, you would be better off with a small FTP server, or something similar. note: progress reporting in transfers over 50MB is still buggy. the transfer is fine, but the progress bar is not.

q.  Is there a resume facility?
a.  No. see above.

q.  How do I get my own IP to give to others?
a.  Please allow me to save you a lot of time and frustration by pointing you here.

Sign up for a free no-ip address Install the DUC (Dynamic Update Client), preferably as a system service. Then simply give folks your mywire.no-ip.org or whatever address, and forget about that whole messy IP business altogether.

q.  How secure is the secure chat?
a.  Not unbreakable. See the itstory page. While my text manipulations would likely baffle your average snooper, an experienced cryptographer wouldn't have much trouble with it.

A well known phrase; see if you can figure it out..

BCKŸ=GŸH9ŸH=A9Ÿ:CFŸ5@@Ÿ;CC8ŸA9BŸHCŸ7CA9ŸHCŸH9Ÿ5=8ŸC:ŸH9ŸD5FHM

I was mainly concerned with putting the framework in place; tighter encryption will follow after I work out the technical and legal issues. Mind you, a fresh encryption key is created for each new session, so the text above is only one possibility. If you are in a hurry for a military-grade truly secure wire, feel free to persuade me! note: I've upgraded the encryption algorhythm somewhat since the above text ;o)

q.  What if one person has secure chat enabled and the other doesn't?
a.  Simply, the±wire will automatically switch to secure mode if *either* have enabled it. This allows you to enable it in the middle of a chat (watch the window title change when this happens)

q.  Is the file transfer secure?
a.  No. If you want to make files secure, encrypt them with something like PGP before transport. The filename/size data travels encrypted, though.

q.  I'm having trouble connecting/transfering files. what can I do?
a.  99% of the time these kinds of troubles are caused by firewalls. A firewall's job is to block ports. As well as obvious firewalls like the OS X Firewall, or Windows XP built-in firewall, other devices will do firewalling as part of their spec, things like routers, airport (WLAN/WiFi) base stations, etc will block incoming connections on ANY port, which is generally a good thing.

To allow full use of the±wire's transfer capabilities, you need to ensure its port is open, specifically you will need to allow incoming and outgoing TCP/IP traffic on port 2769 (or whatever port you and the other human have decided to use).

Remember, when you send a file to someone, what actually happens is that you send a message to them informing them that you have a file you wish to transfer. After they have decided that they want to receive it, they connect TO YOU to grab the file. This has obvious security benefits, not least because the one sending the files is the one who needs to allow incoming connexions! Apart from the initial firewall setup, all this is transparent in operation.

q.  Are you single?
a.  What's that got to do with the±wire? Okay, wire me, and I'll tell you about it. *grin*