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Evolving instant message service
THE INSTANT Message (IM) service began as a chat tool for teenagers, but it is now one of the most sought after Net services. It may soon even replace e-mail from its position as the most popular service on the Net. While NetSpeak has discussed IM earlier, this week the column dissects some deficiencies that plague the service and examines a few possible solutions.
Popular IM services
At present there are many free IM service providers. Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com), AOL (http://www.aol.com), and MSN (http://messenger.microsoft.com) are some of them. To access an IM service, you have to sign-up with the service provider, download/install the client program and activate it. Before linking to the server, if you already have some friends, who use this IM service and know their user ID, add them to the `buddy' list.
Once your client software establishes a link with the provider's server, the server will authenticate your account and you will get logged on to the service.
At this point, the server will go through your buddy list and check whether any of them is on-line. If it finds anyone, it will send the information to you and also inform the online friends about your Net presence. Then you and your friends can start communicating with one another.
Shortcomings
Though the IM service is rich with features such as voice chat, virtual meetings and file exchange, it suffers from some shortcomings.
One commonly observed drawback of the service is that it is not inter-operable. That is, if you are a member of one service, say AOL, you will not be able to communicate with your friends who have an account with another one _ for example, Yahoo messenger.
Another serious drawback is the lack of a proper security system. Like e-mail, IM can also bring in viruses through file attachments. As hackers can intercept your messages, sending sensitive information through this channel may be of high risk.
Though the security issues may not be important for individual users, companies which allow their local network users free access to the public IM services may find themselves in trouble.
The best option for companies is to float their own IM service in their network. This would let them implement the necessary restrictions through configuration adjustments. The IM server Jabber seems to be a good product that can be tried out in this context.
Jabber server
Jabber is an IM solution provider and it has an IM client/server system developed through the Open Source method. If you have a private network and want to experiment with an IM server, download the `Jabber Everywhere' program.
This free product, available at http://www.jabber.com which runs on Red Hat Linux 7.1 (yes, no Windows version), will not allow more than 100 users to access the system, though it has all the features available in the commercial version. If you want to build your own server, visit the site at http://www.jabber.org and download the software source available there.
Interoperability issue
As mentioned above, one of the problems with the IM is the inability of a user of one system to talk to a user of another. The Jabber service offers a solution to this problem as well. It hosts a public instant messaging system that allows you to communicate with users who use other IM services such as MSN, Yahoo and ICQ. To access the Jabber IM-service, you need to install the IM client from the Jabber site and do the usual signing-up process. To make it communicate with other IM services' users, you need to configure the `GateWay' option that allows one to add external IM services.
Apart from these tools, the service hosts a web client that helps you access the IM service through your browser. This means, you can access the service without downloading a client program
Another interesting IM-service that lets you access multiple IM-services is the one hosted by the free service `Odigo' whose client software can be downloaded from the link at: http://corp.odigo.com/. Besides providing interoperability, the service has many interesting features that include `people in page/site' a function that displays people who are currently navigating the same site as you.
How to find your IP address?
As mentioned in this column earlier, a machine linked to the Net has an IP address, which is a string of numbers. Many readers are eager to know the IP addresses of their machines when linked to the Net.
The simple utility `Winipcfg.exe' that comes along with Windows displays the IP address and other details regarding your Net connection. If you want to know the IP address of your machine, go to the DOS prompt and start the program `Winipcfg'.
Once the program is invoked, the `IP configuration' window immediately pops up. This displays your network settings including `IP Address', `Default Gateway' and `DNS Server'. If you find any difficulty in understanding the various parameters listed in the window or want to know more about them, check out this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q141698 explains everything that `winipcfg' displays.
First e-mail message
Nowadays E-mail is the best communication tool for many of us. If you want to know how this technology took shape and such details as who designed the e-mail address format and sent the first e-mail, read the article available at: http://www.internet-tips.net/Email/history.htm, which narrates the incidents that led to the creation of e-mail 30 years ago.
J. Murali
The author can be contacted at:
murali27@satyam.net.in)
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