***** Adding this upstream from instruction in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/empathy/+bug/523203    attachments there *******

This could be a limitation of the API Empathy is using to connect to GTalk/ MSN but it would strike me that if I have a single tool to coordinate my chats across different accounts (GTalk, MSN) then a single change in that tool should ripple out across the any other clients.

For example: I sign into GMail in Firefox and leave the window open so I can easily see new emails. This means that the GTalk chat client embedded in the browser on the left of my inbox is a running instance of GTalk. I also sign into my accounts (MSN, GTalk) using Empathy which means a second instance of GTalk is running via Empathy. Now if I change my status in the browser's instance I can understand why I might not want to change my status in Empathy (because my MSN status would also change? And Empathy currently doesn't support different statuses for each account?). However if I change my status in Empathy I want that change to be reflected globally. That is to say I expect my status to change in the browser instance. And if I install and load Pidgin then I expect the status of GTalk to be changed there too.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Log into GMail with the GTalk box on the left enabled with a status (any status will do)
2) Log into Empathy
3) Change your status in Empathy

Expected result:
Statuses across accounts and across clients are synch'd

Actual result:
GTalk in the browser window has my original status and is not updated when I change my Empathy status


ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: 747fb8e876b564a76d76df120327e040
CheckboxSystem: 6ce041aeed0a2c17b3343b66d157175d
Date: Wed Feb 17 13:40:40 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/empathy
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha amd64 (20091209)
Package: empathy 2.29.6-0ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=C
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-10.14-generic
SourcePackage: empathy
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-10-generic x86_64