COM 125- Assignment #2

At first when I read this assignment I thought it was going to be difficult finding an internet technology that was developed in the year 1994 or earlier. When I remembered that the internet was really created forty years ago, I thought that maybe all of the internet technologies I was familiar with were created a long time ago also. I decided to research a technology that we are most likely all familiar with and that is instant messaging. I figured that I must be pretty familiar with it, seeing as my nights in middle school and high school were dedicated to AIM.

Instant messaging is defined as a computer application which allows for communications in real time. A live chat and email service. It is actually surprising that instant messaging has been around longer than the internet has. Instant messaging was first seen on multi-user operating systems dating back to the mid- 1960's. At this time, these systems were used as notification systems for services such as printing, but were quickly utilized as a means of communication with another person logged into the same machine.

During the Bulletin Board System in the 1980's, chat systems such as the Freelancin' Roundtable, located near Houston Texas, provided as a means of instant messaging. The Roundtable was independent from the Bulletin Board System. To use this chat system, you would call the chat system using an analog phone and a computer with a modem. Then when you were connected you would use a password and enter what name you were going to use, then you could send messages to other members who were also connected. Just like the instant messaging we are used to today, text would be seen in real time and the newest messages came at the bottom and then eventually would move up as other messages were received. It also allowed you to read the text that had previously been sent before you had logged on.

I believe that the internet has been influenced greatly by instant messaging. It would be hard for me to believe it if someone in our class told me that they had never used any form of instant messaging before. Over the years, instant messaging has become so much more advanced. Back in the 1980's you couldn't send pictures or smiley faces or any of that stuff. Now, you can choose your own font and color. Instant messaging has become more personal to fit our fast paced lifestyle. Conversations have adopted slang and abbreviations to shorten sentences and quicken conversations. It is also a great way to keep in contact with friends or family out of town. Instead of emailing or Facebook messaging them, instant messages allow you to have a real time conversation, and there is no hassle of waiting for emails. Instant messaging has come a long way since the 1960's and since then it has certainly gotten way better.