What is Instant Messaging Really

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What is Instant Messaging Really?

• Jasmine Taiwo

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Introduction

• An instant messenger (computer application)
• allows instant text communication between two or
  more people through a network such as the
  Internet.

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Instant Messaging

• E-mail can be time consuming
• Fast-paced society is constantly craving more
  speed
• Allows users to maintain a list of people that
  they wish to interact with
• Can communicate with many different users at one
  time

• Users can send messages to any of the people in
  their list, often called a buddy list or contact
  list, as long as that person is online
• Sending a message opens up a small window where
  users can type in messages that can appear on
  both the sender and receivers screens.

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ICQ

• November 1996
• Mirablis, introduced ICQ, a free
  instant-messaging utility that anyone could use
• ICQ was one of the first available IM programs
• Mirablis was acquired in June 1998 by AOL, and
  ICQ became part of the suite of online services
  that AOL owns.

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IM Utilities

• AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
• allows AOL members to communicate with
  non-members
• Yahoo! Messenger
• Integrates with other Yahoo! content services
• Odigo
• Allows the user to combine AIM, ICQ and Yahoo!
  Messenger, plus file-sharing utilities, all in
  one program!
• Omni
• Allows the user to combine the functionality of
  AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo!
• The future of instant messaging
• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is
  developing a standard protocol for IMing, called
  Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol. Business
  users are discovering that IMing allows them to
  have virtual conferences and collaborate on
  projects very easily.

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Clients

• AOL Instant Messenger (commercial)
• Fire
• Gadu-Gadu
• Gaim
• ICQ (commercial)
• Internet Relay Chat
• Jabber

• Lotus Sametime (commercial)
• Miranda IM
• MSN Messenger (commercial)
• Trillian
• Yahoo! Messenger (commercial)
• Windows Messenger (commercial)

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Instant Messaging Features

• Instant messages
• Send notes back and forth with another person who
  is online
• Chat
• Create own custom chat room with others
• Web links
• Share links to your favorite Web sites
• Images
• Look at an image stored on another computer
• Sounds
• Play sounds for others
• Files
• Share files by sending them directly to others
• Talk
• Use the Internet instead of a phone to actually
  talk with others
• Streaming content
• Real-time or near-real-time stock quotes and news
  

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Pros and Cons

• Pros
• Conversations happen in realtime
• Faster than e-mail
• More convenient than the telephone

• Cons
• Not considered a Secure way to communicate
• Conversations are taken literally

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Conclusion

• CIS 121 includes communication protocols
• For More information
• Invitation to Computer Science Textbook (Chapter
  7)
• Spelman Courses
• Computer Networks Data Communication
• Networks and Security-Pilot

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Bibliography

• How Secure Is Instant Messaging?
  http//www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article
  /0,aid,103721,00. asp.
• News.com 2.html Yahoo walls out Trillian.
• Overview nstant_Messenger.html.
• Tang, John and Begole, James. Beyond Instant
  Messaging. ACM Queue vol. 1, no. 8 - November
  2003 ntentpasho wpagepid90.
• Thorsberg, Frank. Companies balance convenience
  with safety concerns. October 2002, PC World
  magazine ssaging.htm.
• What Is Instant Messaging? http//www.aol.com/ai
  m/about.html
• firm.
• Messaging Industry Insider Blog from Corante
  Tech News.

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• Thank you for listening to my presentation!