[Air-l] What is Instant Messaging

[elijah wright]

> > http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/trailing1002.asp
>
> Amazing that people have such problems with the concept of Instant
> messaging.  The MIT system did not have a buddy system linked to
> personal awareness status that could be moved from computer account to
> computer account.  IT WAS NOT IM!

so, quentin.  what are the essential characteristics that separate ICQ (a
distributed message ssytem, with centralized servers and user database)
from Zephyr (a distributed messaging system, with centralized servers and
user database)?  (have you used zephyr?)

building a mental, analogue mapping from one system implementation to the
other doesn't seem to be troubling anyone else who's posted about this
issue.

what's your argument - why do you want to argue that Zephyr (or IRC, for
that matter) are "less" 'instant messaging' than ICQ is?

are we arguing that interface specifics are more relevant than the
system-level features that are available?  confusing features with
interface seems, frankly, wrongheaded.

explain thyself :) or, at least, give me something that looks less
confrontational... i think we all understand the basics of IM quite well.

elijah