Friday, July 30, 1999, 12:14:45 PM, William X. Walsh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Friday, July 30, 1999, 12:03:59 PM, Ben Edelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Among the most frequent requests after ICANN's Public Meetings in Berlin in
>> May was a centralized ("official") real-time chat site for online
>> participants to use to communicate with each other.
>> I'm prepared to make such an area available, but as yet no online chat
>> software has met my the requirements I believe are appropriate:
>> * Free, donated, or already owned by the Berkman Center. (IChat and Oreilly
>> Webboard fall into the last category.)
>> * Has a web interface to eliminate the nee for installation of an IRC or
>> other special-purpose client. (I worry that installation of such a program
>> would be too burdensome for non-technical users, and it'd likely be
>> impossible on shared computers.) JavaScript is OK, as far as I'm concerned,
>> being realistic about what client-side tech really is necessary for chat to
>> work.
>> * Is stable and reliable. (IChat might do the job except that it fails this
>> test, according to past Berkman experience with the product.)
>> * Allows direct access to the chat without a lengthy or unduly burdensome
>> registration routine. (Yahoo Chat is marginal in this respect, certainly
>> not as good as I'd like. Webboard is customizable, but I haven't yet made
>> as much progress as I'd like in reducing the number of clicks to get to the
>> actual chat room.)
>> * Multitasks readily, allowing the RealPlayer and (another session of the)
>> web browser to run at the same time.
>> * Provides a complete, easily-readable log of the chat session.
>> Do people agree that these are appropriate criteria? Are they too
>> restrictive, or too broad?
>> Any suggestions on software that meets this criteria? I'd be happy to use a
>> free web-based service like Yahoo Chat; to link to a Chat server hosted by
>> any entity that makes reasonable assurances of equal access, service
>> availability, etc.; or even to install additional software on our NT server
>> if necessary. But at the moment I'm not thrilled with any of the options
>> I've found so far, and while Yahoo Chat or Webboard (among many others!)
>> might certainly do the job, I'd like to think there's something better out
>> there.
>> Comments and suggestions on or off-list, as appropriate.
> IRC is probably your best bet, and then use a Java client on the
> website to access it.
> I have seen one in use that requires Netscape or IE 4+, if that is an
> acceptable compromise. I will contact the author about its use, I
> believe he has licensed it freely to other organizations in the past.
Just to follow up on this, the application is at http://www.jpilot.com/java/irc/
The application costs $29.95 should they not be willing to grant a
free license to the Berkman Center for this purpose.
I have installed the "shareware" version at
http://www.dso.net/chat/local.html
I believe any number of us could assist you in setting up an IRCd to
use with this. This product is customizable to default to any irc
server and starting chat channel you specify.
Its only drawback (and this may be a serious one) its that it will not
work for people who are behind a internal network firewall that is not
using NAT or ip_masq, but is proxying the connections. Installation
of a normal IRC client should be a solution for these people.
This type of a solution would enable people that are savvy enough to
know IRC to use their applications and for those that aren't to use a
very simply Java based solutions in their browser.
--
William X. Walsh
General Manager, DSo Internet Services
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax:(209) 671-7934
The Law is not your mommy or daddy to go crying
to every time you have something to whimper about.
