Since the Couper's group seems to be developing into a reasonable forum I thought I would introduce those of you who have not heard or used it to a program (free) called ICQ. It is an excellent program and one which I have used now for the past year. It allows you to see who is Online somewhat like AOL's buddy program but allows you to send the URL of a page you are on without the muss and fuss of typing it into a message, it will self launch your friends browser to that URL, you can also do direct file transfers, machine to machine. Last but not least you have 2 methods of communicating with another ICQ user you can send a message which will pop up on their screen or go into a chat mode (you can have multiple users in the chat mode) without having to go into a chat room. below is the info off the ICQ page. Their home page where you can find out more is at http://www.icq.com/ and my ICQ # is 1388138 If there is interest in this I am willing to put an ICQ comm panel on my web page and set up an "interest group" for us. check out the ICQ home page and give me some feed back.
ICQ is a user-friendly Internet tool that informs you who's on-line at any
time and enables you to contact them at will. No longer will you search in
vain for friends or associates on the Net. ICQ does the searching for you,
alerting you in real time when they log on. The need to conduct a
directory search each time you want to communicate with a specific person
is eliminated.
With ICQ, you can chat, send messages, files and URL's, play games,
or just hang out with your fellow 'Netters' while still surfing the Net.
It lets you choose the mode of communication you wish to employ.
Regardless of the application, be it chat, voice, whiteboard, data
conferencing, file transfer or Internet games, ICQ will get your entire
message across in real
time.
ICQ supports a variety of popular Internet applications and serves
as a Universal Platform from which you can launch any peer- to- peer
application (such as Microsoft NetMeeting or Netscape CoolTalk).
It can also be used in a multiple-user mode, so groups can conduct
conferences or just 'hang out' on-line.
The program runs in the background, taking up minimal memory and
Net
resources. While you work with other applications, ICQ alerts you when
friends and associates log in, allowing you to work efficiently while
maintaining a wide range of Internet functions at your fingertips. Among
the functions available are: chat, message, e-mail, and URL and file
transfer.
All these functions are consilidated into one easy-to-use program
that integrates smoothly into desktop systems.
How does it work?
It's simple. When you install ICQ, the program asks you to register at a
server, which is connected to a broad network of servers spanning the
Internet. At the time of registration, you receive a unique UIN
(Universal
Internet Number). In addition, ICQ gives you the option of entering
personal information along with your UIN. This allows other ICQ users to
recognize
you when you log on.
Once you've registered, you can compile a selected list of friends and
associates. ICQ uses this list to find your friends for you. Meanwhile,
ICQ waits quietly in the background without interrupting any other
applications in use. As soon as you log onto the Internet, ICQ
automatically detects the Internet connection, announces your presence to
the Internet community and alerts you when friends sign on or off.
Once you know who's on, all it takes is a click of an icon to initiate
chat, implement URL transfers, send messages , exchange files, or launch
any external peer-to-peer applications.
The ICQ Server Network
The ICQ technology is based on a proprietary server and database
network. The ICQ network was designed as a global solution for a large
number of users. 'By routing all inter-user communications as
peer-to-peer,
we take the load off the servers, enabling them to support a huge number
of
users.
Dave
41 Charlie
Dave's Ercoupe Page
http://www.flash.net/~dmprosvc/dave
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