Instant Messaging

Overview

Instant messaging requires the use of a client program that hooks up an instant messaging service and differs from email  in that conversations are then able to happen in real-time.  Most services offer a "presence awareness"  feature, indicating whether people on one's list of contacts are currently online and available to chat. This may be called a "Buddy List". In early instant messaging programs, each letter appeared as it was typed, and when letters were deleted to correct typos this was also seen in real time. This made it more like a telephone conversation than exchanging letters. In modern instant messaging programs, the other party in the conversation generally only sees each line of text right after a new line is started. Most instant messaging applications also include the ability to set a a status message, roughly analogous to the message on a telephone answering machine.

History

An early form of instant messaging was implemented on the PLATO system in the early 1970s. Later the UNIX/LINUX "talk" instant messaging system was widely used by engineers and academics in the 1980s and 1990s to communicate across the internet. ICQ was the first general instant messenger introduced for non-UNIX/LINUX computers in November, 1996. After its introduction, a number of variations of instant messaging have arisen in parallel in many places, each with its own protocol. This has led to users running many instant messaging applications simultaneously to be available on several networks. Alternatively they could use a client which supports many protocols, such as MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messaging, Yahoo Messenger, Jabber and other clients.

Recently, many instant messaging services have begun to offer video conferencing features, Voice Over IP (i.e. VoIP, which will be discussed later), and web conferencing services have begun to integrate both video conferencing and instant messaging capabilities. Hence, the boundaries among these media have become blurred.

On Dec. 19, 2002, AOL announced that ICQ had been issued a US patent for instant messaging, but they also said that they had no plans on enforcing their patent at the present time. The term "instant messenger" is a Service Mark of AOL Time Warner and may not be used in software not affiliated with AOL.

Origin of Term

The phrase "Instant Message" was devised by Paul M. A. Linebarger for a gimmick in the science-fiction stories he wrote in the 1960s under the pseudonym Cordwainer Smith. His instant messages were to be across interstellar distances at speeds faster than that of light, and said to be expensive so he could write plots concerning their unaffordability. From there, the phrase was picked up by members of New England Science Fiction Association, many of whom were computer professionals, for their weekly mimeographed newsletter. The phrase may have come from there. It should be noted that America Online did not originally refer to their own IM service as an instant messenger. The early software releases referred to it as "FlashMail." Early users spoke of "flashing" one another, which was probably one reason that the name was changed.

List of Instant Messaging Services

Popular instant messaging services on the public Internet include AOL Instant messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, Jabber, QQ, Qnext and ICQ. These services all come from an older (and still popular) online chat medium known as Internet Relay Chat.

Cooperation

During recent years, there have been several attempts to create a unified standard for instant messaging: IETF's SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and SIMPLE (SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leverage), APEX (Application Exchange), Prim (Presence and Instant Messaging Protocol), the open XML-based XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), more commonly known as Jabber and OMA's (Open Mobile Alliance) IMPS (Instant Messaging and Presence Service) created specifically for mobile devices.

Most attempts at creating a unified standard for the major IM providers (AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft) have failed and each continues to use its own proprietary protocol although on Oct. 13, 2005, Microsoft and Yahoo  announced that by Summer of 2006  they would interoperate.

There are two ways to to combine the many disparate protocols:

1. One way is to combine the many disparate protocols inside the IM client application. Examples include Trillian, Zango, Messenger, Gaim, Fire, Proteus, Miranda IM, Adium, EveryBuddy, Ayttm, Kopete, Centericq, BitlBee, and IMVITE.
2. The other way is to combine the many disparate protocols inside the IM server application. This approach moves the task of communicating to the other services to the server. Clients need not know or care about other IM protocols. This approach is popular in Jabber/XMPP protocol servers however the presently available server bridge modules are immature and limited with respect to the full capabilities of the IM systems they bridge to.

The IMPS standard mentioned earlier is part of a mobile telephone industry initiative to bring instant messaging to mobile phones. The Open Mobile Alliance  took over the standards, originally called WirelessVillage, in November 2002. There is a free IMPS-based service called Yamigo which allows instant messaging on mobile phones even if your carrier doesn't provide its own Wireless Village service. Yamigo acts as a standalone instant messaging network, but can also integrate with ICQ, AIM, MSN, Yahoo and Jabber.

Some approaches, such as that adopted by the Sonork enterprise IM software or the Jabber/XMPP network, allow organizations to create their own private instant messaging network by enabling them to limit access to the server (often with the IM network entirely behind their firewall) and administer user permissions. Typically, a dedicated corporate IM server has several advantages such as pre-populated contact lists, integrated authentication, and better security and privacy.

Some networks have made changes to prevent them from being utilized by such multi-network IM clients. For example, Trillian had to release several revisions and patches to allow its users to access the MSN, AOL, and Yahoo networks, after changes were made to these networks. The major IM providers typically cite the need for formal agreements as well as security concerns as reasons for making these changes.