Although it’s just in its very early beta stages, Hello (again) looks like it could be the Hello alternative so many of us have been waiting for. Now that the Google Picasa HELLO service is shutting down tomorrow (June 11, 2008), those of us that want an easy photo sharing instant messenger may have something to look forward to.

I spoke with The Janitor (yes, The Janitor…with a capital J) of the HelloAgainApp.com site briefly via email to get more information about this new photo sharing instant messenger program.

Let’s call it an interview:

savehello.org: How did Hello (again) get started?

The Janitor: Hello (again) has been set up and funded by someone who wishes to remain anonymous, however they have experience of setting up large websites (>1m pageviews/day) and may or may not be getting help from Google/Picassa employees who are disenfranchised that Hello is being dropped.

SH: How will Hello (again) work?

TJ: With regard to how ‘Hello (again)’ will operate, it’s on a peer to peer basis.

The only information Hello (again) will store about a user is their login, email address, name, password and a flag to indicate that on signup they accepted the terms and conditions.

In addition to this information, Hello (again) will also keep on it’s servers a ‘buddy list’ for each user - it would be foolish to keep this information client side.

When one user sends a message or picture to another user this picture or text goes directly from one user to another, it does not go via Hello (again) servers. This being the case Hello (again) does not store, receive, log or even see messages or images being sent between the users.

SH: Thanks for that info. I’m sure that will help the privacy concerns some folks may have with the new software.

SH: As the janitor of the site, will you keep the code clean?

TJ: My role has yet to be firmed up, but I expect I will be dusting the servers from time to time.

SH: Will you be trying to mimic the interface of HELLO as much as possible?

TJ: The idea of Hello (again) is not to copy HELLO per se, so the user interface will not be exactly the same. The main ideas, drag ‘n drop, etc, will be carried forward but the idea is to build upon, and improve, what was done by HELLO.

Certainly the initial release will not look nice, though we hope the UI will be intuitive.

SH: Will Hello (again) work on a MAC and a PC?

TJ: Hello (again) will be available on a Mac. It’ll also be available on Windows, Linux, Unix, iPhones, most mobile/cell phones and RISC OS.

SH: When do you expect the first PUBLIC Beta testing for your new software and service?

TJ: The first public beta is now live. *PLEASE* remember this is an EARLY BETA. We’re only putting it up so that you have something to use when Hello dies tomorrow. We do NOT consider this any where near finished.

Here’s the BETA download link: http://www.helloagainapp.com/download.php

Here’s the Hello (again) forum: http://www.helloagainapp.com/forum/index.php

Enjoy!