[KLUG Members] Is this the end of Netscape?

[Robert G. Brown]

On 31 May 2003 12:57:03 -0400, Adam Williams <awilliam@whitemice.org> wrote:
.....
>I'm not an IM user (neven been able to get any of the Linux clients to
>work reliably).
I don't understand why you're having such trouble. One of the best IM
clients (LICQ) ships with RH since 7.? and has always worked for me right
outta da box.

>Where is the rocket science?  
Among the rockets, I suppose. There's very little of it here. These 
commercial IM's (ICQ, AOL-IM, Y!M, MSN messenger, certainly others I've 
missed) are essentially dolled up versions of other applications such as
IRC and talk (I don't claim that the code was inherited or swiped, only
that the overall idea are very similar).

>Am I missing something or what is the magic?  
The magic is in the perceived value added, and in the lightweight nature
of the applications and human interactivity provided by IM's. They are
engineered to be easier and more casual than E-mail for short, conversa-
tional interacations, andthey provide the short turn-around needed for 
rapid communication or gratification that e-mail does not provide. 

Two anecdotes:
 - My daughters (who live on the NJ coast) all use AIM, to talk to their
   friends, who all use AIM, and much of our communication is via AIM, too.
   They all tell me its very popular among people they know.

   My Mother (who at 75 is rather far ahead of her generation when it comes
   to PC use) also uses IM's, to stay in touch...with me and my kids. She
   tells me that these things really appeal to casual users.

 - I use IM's, mostly ICQ (LICQ with encryption) for collaboration with 
   others overseas. e-mail is not as secure, and it has other annoying
   traits, like spam, which clutter things up. If I just got a file from
   someone overseas and I want to ask a quick question, there's nothing
   better than snapping off a one-liner to him on ICQ and getting an answer
   at his typing speed. Experience shows a one-line mail message just gets
   lost, and we spend more time verifying reception. an IM is also better
   than VOIP software, since there are bandwidth bottlenecks which play
   havoc with some voice sessions (UDP, you know), and in some cases spoken
   English is not a refined skill (on the other end, I suspect! :) ) while
   the written language is usually much better.

>LDAP + DNSSRV and XML-RPC and it seems like you
>could build a global, open, extensible, and scalable IM system without
>even breaking a sweat?
No argument there. Motivation is needed, I suppose. The guys who built ICQ
had it, because they sensed a pent-up demand for this sort of thing, and it
paid off big for them... I recall AOL buying them out for something on the
other of a half-billion dollars...

But what would one do today, start another network, or simply use one of the
existing systems? IMO the market is saturated, and these things are a commod-
ity. Also, if one or more ofthese services became "closed", servers that
work with existing IM clients would be up and running in days....

                                                          Regards,
                                                          ---> RGB <---