Hi there, Actually I think you have this backwards. It is not that i wish to so much to be able to chat in a particular protocol. Instead i want the flexibility of not having to worry, to have a standard client which, when i choose a location to visit, will perform consistently at that location. As I have said, i am asking for the particulars of the client used by air, however solving this problem would not necessarily give me the flexibility that is my true goal here. does Linux not have the ability to match the standards already in existence? here is an example, as you raised the old e-mail days. In delphi's telnet days, no matter the tools used by the different members, one could telnet or visit the site via the web and chat with everyone there, > no matter what you were using. > This of course not the case there now, but I wonder why things have become less standardized and more protocol specific? Consider by contrast, ICQ which can and I understand the same holds for other messenger programs, allow you to contact to any other user of that structure again regardless of the client. I am unsure about Skype, although it lists Linux as a platform it supports. again my true goal is not to have to know the meticulous details of the protocol used, but to have a reliable tool that does the job. does that make sense? Consider from your own example compuserve's tight hold on who could connect cost it a strong place in the market. You say yes I can chat in Linux, both text and audio. However if none of those to whom I must speak can hear me, where is the benefit? Karen On Tue, 6 Sep 2005, Janina Sajka wrote: > >> To be fair it must be recognized that you're asking for more than a >> particular kind of communication. To me it sounds like you're not asking >> for chat, but rather for chat using some particular proprietary >> protocol/format. Such tactics are time honored methods of monopolists. >> >> Consider that 100 years ago you might need multiple telephones in your >> home, one from each phone company, to call anyone in your city. That's >> right. The early phone company didn't let you call it's competitors >> customers. >> >> If that sounds strange, quaint and archaic, there will be quite a few >> people on this list who will remember the early days of email when the >> customer of Compuserve could not send email to the customer of Delphi, >> nor could either of these customers send to a customer of the company >> called The Source (which grew up to be AOL). >> >> Can you chat on LInux? Of course you can, text and audio. You can even >> set up your own phone company and for a few dollars, or on a per call >> basis, interface to every telephone on the planet. Can you do so with >> every proprietary protocol someone might try to impose? Possibly, but >> not necessarily. >> >> Perhaps, Karen, your association people have never considered how they >> are helping enforce the profits of a monopolist. Maybe they might want >> to think about that and switch to something that supports choice, not >> conformity. >>
