There was a time when geeks were the only ones who used instant
messengers. Not so now. Almost everyone, from high school
students to Congressmen, have instant messaging accounts.
Businesses use instant messengers like Lotus Sametime or Novell
GroupWise within their companies. How did instant messengers get
this far? In the beginning... One of the first chatting
protocols was a chat room network protocol known as Internet
Relay Chat, or IRC. IRC was started in Finland in 1988 by Jarkko
“WiZ” Oikarinen. Although there were other chat room protocols
available, IRC gained popularity during the Soviet Coup of 1991,
when a group of Soviet government leaders attempted to overthrow
Mikhail Gorbachev. While doing this, there was a media blackout.
During this blackout, IRC was the only way to know what was
happening in the Soviet Union until order was restored.
Following the blackout, people started using IRC for other
matters, such as technical support chat rooms. The “Big Four”
and Jabber Today, things have come a l