EMAILING AND WHAT ELSE?

Reprinted from Renfrew-Collingwood News,
August/September 2002 Edition. Updated May 2005.

Ever since its’ birth, the Internet has always been used primarily for communication. Virtually every Internet user around the world has an e-mail account. According to a recent survey done by Industry Canada in the year 2000, approximately 92 % of the people in British Columbia with access to the Internet indicated that their primary use of the Internet was to send and receive e-mail. So, is e-mailing the most advantageous and efficient way of communicating with friends, colleagues, and family? The answer is “No”. E-mail technology, as great as it may seem, does not allow for immediate responses. E-mails are sent by the sender over the Internet to another computer called a server, where it waits for the receiver to download and read the message. For individuals who have no need for an immediate response, e-mailing is fine. But for individuals who need a quick and crucial decision, using an instant messaging solution maybe the answer.

What is Instant Messaging?
An internet technology that allows users like you and me to receive messages from friends, family and colleagues literally instantly right after the message has been sent from any locations across the street, in the same building or around the world. Instant messaging allows users to send their messages whenever they feel like it and provided that the recipient is online, get a reply right away. No more waiting for a response. In a way, it is quite like the telephone system that we all grew up with. However, Instant messaging programs also allow us to open channels and talk to more than one individual simultaneously as well as send attachments and voicemails to one another.

How does it work (In a nutshell)?
Everyone doing instant messaging needs an instant messaging (IM) client, that’s the little piece of software that you need to download onto your computer before you can actually begin instant messaging your buddies. These little pieces of software allow you to log onto the corresponding IM service. Once logged on to the service, the little program sends a message to another computer called a server to let it know that you are now logged in and can receive messages sent to it. To begin sending a message to an individual, you simply click on a name from your buddy list that you have created, compose your message, hit the send button and wait for a response. The message is then transmitted to the recipient.

Practical Applications
There are things that you just simply can not do with your typical e-mail programs such as:

• Share pictures and files;
• Chat;
• Internet Telephony;
• Collaboration features: like whiteboards, that allow more than one IM user, such as: another colleague to team up on discussions or meetings; and,
• Video conferencing with family, friends, and colleagues.

Interoperability
So far we have only mentioned all the good things with regards to instant messaging, and for most of you, it may sound too good to be true. After all if this technology is so good, why do people still have e-mail accounts and why do they not just use these IM programs?

The main disadvantage of this form of electronic communication is interoperability. E-mail, standards, and protocols were developed a long time ago to ensure that people’s e-mails could be read regardless of the network or software people had installed on their system. To put it another way, if you were to dial a number on your phone to call someone, you do not have to worry about what brand or kind of phone the other person has. You know with certainty that the other individual will be able to receive that call. In the world of instant messaging, those types of standards are still being developed. So friends that are on another IM service basically could not talk to one another when the other is using a different piece of software offered by another IM service. In order to get around this, people either had to download multiple IM clients (software) to access all the different IM networks or they would download this one piece of software which would allow them to access all the different networks that their friends are on through this one instant messaging client.

What do I need to get started?
Equipment you need:

• Access to a computer;
• Internet connection (the faster your connection the better your experience);
• Web cam (optional);
• Microphone, if you plan on doing Internet telephony; and,
• Instant Messaging software.

Instant Messaging software can be downloaded, free of charge from the Internet, in some cases it may already be part of the operating system that is installed on your computer, so look around before you download any software applications.

The Big Players…

1. MSN Messenger 7.0 – the computer world would just not be complete without any products from Bill Gates and Co. If you are running Microsoft Windows operating system and you may already have this piece of software. If you do not see it under your programs menu or on the desktop, you can download it free of charge by clicking here. You will also need to sign yourself up a free hotmail account before the software will actually allow you to log onto its network.
2. ICQ 5.01 – also owned by America Online, has a very large installed base approximately 140 million users in 245 countries. Service is very popular with a lot of young users of Internet. Chances are your children or grandchildren are on this particular service. You will need to download the software from here.
3. America Online Messenger (AIM) 5.9 – currently has the largest number of users, if you include all the users from ICQ. You do not have to be an America Online Canada customer to download and use this part of their service. You can download the latest version of their Instant Messaging software by clicking here.
4. Yahoo! Messenger – if you have a Yahoo Mail – e-mail account, you can download the latest version of their software by clicking here.

Other IM Clients

The following software programs allow individuals who have friends on other IM networks to talk to one another without having to download all the above pieces of software. You will still need to get an account with each one of these services even though you can access all the services from one program.

1. Trillian 3.1 (Cerulean Studios) – the program will allow you to talk to all your AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger buddies. You can also do multiparty chats and transfer pictures.
2. Odigo 4.0 (Odigo Inc.) – this program will allow you to access AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger buddies, but has a “flaky, users beware” ICQ connection. You may not be able to talk to your ICQ friends with this one.

From a simple technology developed to communicate with friends, instant messaging is quickly evolving into a quintessential tool for today’s business world. I hope that you’ll find this abbreviated glimpse at instant messaging helpful in both your personal and work life.

See you soon,

~Geekboy

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to drop me an e-mail at: gb.technobytes@gmail.com