Online chat: ‘Connecting’ people

Gunjan Gupta

NEW DELHI: Next time you go into a chat mode and discover a Jack121, Nobody, Stupid, Softone47, its-me-sweety, 41andonly, Imcool as your chat partners don't be taken aback. This is just one of the by-product of a latest rage that has hit the world, called the Internet chat.

To put it more technically, chat is a real time interaction between two or more computer users at the same time, via the Internet. A chat client is a program that runs on your computer and sends and receives written messages to and from a chat server.

The chat server, in turn, is responsible for making sure that all the messages are broadcast to everyone participating in a discussion. There can be many discussions going on at once, where each one is assigned a unique channel or it can happen amongst two or more selected people in the form of a conferencing.

As like most things, this too has variants:

Internet Relay Chat (IRC):

IRC is a multi-user, multi-channel chat system that runs on the Internet. It gives individuals, in any part of the world, the ability to talk (or type) and reply in real time. There are thousands of channels running simultaneously and one can join any existing chat room or start their own.

IRC is a collection of servers linked together. When you log on an IRC, you are connected to one of the servers on that network. Since all the servers are connected to each other, in other words, one is connected to all other users, even though they may not be directly connected to the same.

Web chatting:

The Web-based chats are lesser feature rich (mainly at the back end), as compared to a regular IRC. It is a common window that accommodates all the users at any point of time. Interaction by all the users happens simultaneously and overtly. Almost all the portals catering to the general requirements offer Web-based chatting facility.

Instant messaging:

Another popular form of Web chat is called 'Instant Messaging'. An Instant Messenger is an online conversation between two or more people who have the messenger loaded on their machines, which at the same time is classified and personal. It takes about 10 minutes to download this free program over a standard 28.8K modem. The installation process takes about three minutes and one can add your friends' screen names to your 'Buddy List'.

It basically is a free software program that lets you see when your friends are online, exchange instant messages with them, participate in group chat room, trade files such as pictures, graphics or documents and find new friends. The most popular ones are those offered by ICQ.com, MSN.com and Yahoo.com.

Though online chat is often perceived as hindrance to work productivity, on the other hand, the benefits are also immense. To begin with, chatting with an overseas family member or a friend will be cost a fraction of what it would take for an STD/ISD call. Net chat is also a great way to make new friends and people sharing same interests and work background, and at local call rates.

However, there are few glitches as well, warns PC Quest executive editor Krishna Kumar. If you are chatting from a place where there is a broadband 'drought' then you are bound to face problems. It starts with the small chat icon resting in the scroll bar for the entire day, even though an individual may not be chatting all day long.






"Because it is in the online mode, it will continue interacting with its original server and updating the status of your friends on the buddy list. Now imagine if it is an organization comprising of 300 employees and the icon rests on even 50 per cent machines, then you are actually not using the service but unduly blocking the limited availability of bandwidth."