“In an ironic twist to America Online’s open-source efforts,
the AOL-funded Mozilla organization appears likely to support
an instant messaging technology in direct competition with AOL’s
own messaging software.
“Mozilla.org, the group shepherding the open-source development
of AOL’s Communicator Web browser, is hard at work on a messaging
program, or client, for users of the Internet Relay Chat network
(IRC).
“The IRC client could be included in Mozilla’s first beta
release of the browser, expected in the next four weeks. IRC, which
is not affiliated with any firm, would compete directly with AOL’s
market-leading AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and ICQ products.”