“One great Internet innovation has been instant messaging. Both
America Online Inc. (AOL) and Microsoft Corp. have dabbled in the
instant messaging field, leading to a rather bitter dispute when
Microsoft made its client compatible with AOL and AOL responded by
promptly “breaking” the Microsoft client, slightly changing the way
AOL’s system worked. “
“The most popular of the instant messaging systems is known as
ICQ, short for I Seek You. Curiously, AOL actually owns ICQ, but
still uses its own instant messaging system.”
“Most of my friends and I have been using ICQ for some time
and the prospect of having to give up this great service when using
Linux was somewhat depressing. As an alternative, there’s
always “Talk,” which sets up a direct connection between users and
can be a horribly painful experience with a slow Internet
connection.”