COM 125 BAZZAR!!

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Before I begin my argument, I’d start off with something personal. The Internet has always been a part of my life. My world evolves around it as its part of my information source, but most importantly, it has done wonders for my social life. I used to be in an all girls’ school for seven years. When I was enrolled into a mix school, I find it hard to talk to the boys. Not only that, occasionally I find it hard to express myself in front of my friends when it was something emotional and upsetting. In 1999, my life changes. Dad bought me a new computer with Internet connections. Not only was I more informed about the news; I could overcome my fear to start a conversation with the opposite sex. My circle of friends expanded and till now, I am still in good terms with some of them.

So, what is the Internet? The Internet is known as the networks of networks that include both technological developments and the merging together of existing network infrastructure and telecommunication systems (Wikipedia, 2007). The net is a very important tool for communication. Do the logos at the right hand side look familiar to anyone of you? I am sure they do! These four chatting systems were the few popular ones about a decade ago. Of course, we do use the email as a form of commuication too, but right now, we shall focus on the chat systems and how they have changed and developed as of they are today.

mIRC is a shareware Internet Relay Chat client for Windows, created in 1995 (Wikipedia, 2007). In this chat system, you will be able to find the whole diversity of human interests, ideas, and issues here. Besides that, IRC also enables you to participate in-group discussions on one of the many thousands of IRC channels, on hundreds of IRC networks. If you prefer the privacy, you can choose to talk to family or friends, wherever they are in the world (mIRC,2006). I remember vividly that back in secondary school days, I always logged into IRC the moment I stepped into the house. I was really amazed and appreciative of that chat system as not only did it help me to make more friends from all over the world, it has other functions which include the sharing of photo, music and video files.

This picture shows how this amazing chat system is connected from user to user and how it

really works. You can choose your own IRC server which helps you to determine which location and people of the world you are chatting with. With people sharing IRC servers and IRC servers which are inter-connected, many internet files are shared across the world.

In mIRC, there are hundreds of channels to choose from to begin your chatting adventure. In each registered channel, there will be one or operators who are in charge of the channel welfare. They have the power to kick anyone out if the IRC user was flooding the channel or sending viruses. This is how a typical channel looks like, with the operator who's always at the top of the channel.

Though the IRC is a hit among the youngsters, it is a threat to the music industry as it encourages channels to be set up for free music and video downloads. The connection is pretty fast and it takes less than an hour to download a whole new music album that has just been released. This is known as illegal downloading as its a form of piracy. Besides that, the IRC must always be used cautiously because most of the time, we never knew who we were speaking to.

The next chat system that was commonly used ever since 1996 was the ICQ. ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, owned by Time Warner's AOL subsidiary. The name ICQ is a play (an oronym) on the phrase "I seek you" (Wikipedia, 2007). The ICQ is somewhat like the MSN today. The main thing that is similar is that we can add the contacts of the people we want to keep in touch with, just that in ICQ the contacts are in numeric form whereas in MSN, the contacts are the users' emails. The system is designed in such a way that messages were sent with offline support. Normally, most people have IRC and ICQ. I'd use both chat systems at the same time as it is convenient for me to add new friends I made in IRC into ICQ after the conversation.

The MSN messenger came out later after the ICQ and IRC. In

the year of 1999, the first version of MSN messenger was launched. MSN Messenger was a freeware instant messaging client that was developed and distributed by Microsoft between 1999 and 2006 for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, and aimed towards home users (Wikipedia, 2007). At first, it did not occur to me to use MSN, I was quite satisfied with the IRC and ICQ system that I was too lazy to try out this instant messaging program. I used the IRC and ICQ till I was in Junior College, where I finally realised the MSN messenger was so much better than ICQ. At first, the old messenger was like this:

It was plain and simple, but it did look more sophisticated as compared to the ICQ. Besides that MSN messenger is a very user-friendly chat system. It has a certain protection against outside files in case of virus and a caution would pop up if there is any incoming file. Should anyone wonder how did the old MSN messenger looked like and what was its basic functions, you guys can simply check out your Windows Messenger which was already pre-installed in your Windows. It functioned just like the old MSN messenger, and users can use the same email to sign in. The contacts in MSN messenger will still appear in the Windows Messenger. It sure is convenient in some way.

As the years go by, people favor IRC and ICQ lesser and there is a popularity increase for the MSN messenger program. From a simple chat system somewhat like the ICQ, it progressed beyond the virtual world. It started off with display pictures and microphones plug-ins, whereby you could still chit chat with your friends online if you were tired of typing. It was as though you were on the phone. The conversation may go slow due to some lagging of the net-working system but imagine all the money you would save in phone bill if you were chatting with your friends or family from overseas! The display pictures allow your friends or family to keep updated of how you look now if they have not seen you for years. In 2006, this is the newest and most upgraded MSN messenger ever:

Not only does this new MSN messenger (Windows Live Messenger)allows you to use your microphones to chat with your peers online, it also allows you to see them! Due to the invention of webcams, live chat is very popular nowadays. There has always been arguments about the distance in human relationships in regards to chatting online or talking in person. Many claimed that chatting in-person allows more interaction and is able to enhance a certain relationship. Besides that, we can read off the facial expressions and body language of the people we are chatting with, to determine if they are lying or telling the truth. It is also a way to detect sincereity, and to prevent you from making the wrong friends. In most chat system, you could not tell if the person is lying or not because all you can see were just words. With the new Windows Live Messenger, you can see the person you are chatting with online. It felt as though you were chatting in-person. This new upgrade has certainly done wonders for many people and it makes people feel closer to one another this way.

Yes, technology has once again taken its step into the new era. From the simple IRC and ICQ, to such a great improvement in Windows Live Messenger, it sure is unbelievable how people can create and even improve similar chatting programs to what it is today. The basic functions of every chat system is still intact, but there are alot more other user-friendly functions and gadgets wh

ich helps to make our social life so much more perfect. Now, there is this E-buddy which is a web messenger that functions like MSN messenger. It does not require us to download it, it can be used and shut down anytime as and when we want. This is convenient for people who just goes online using an outside computer with no MSN, he/she need not waste the time to download. It is also a high popularity amongst students as most computers in Singapore's schools do not allow students to download anything besides surfing the net. In years to come, we can see interactive internet system such as Stickam making its way to popularity. In this blog entry, I have bring all of you down the road and 'experience' the evolution of the internet chatting systems. Who knows if anything new and interesting may be created in the later years? We shall all wait and find out!

ReFeReNcEs:

History of the Internet. (2007, January 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:00pm, January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Internet&amp;oldid=103255177

MIRC. (2007, January 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:15pm, January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MIRC&oldid=103094950

mIRC. (1995-2006). "What is IRC?” Retrieved 02:02pm, January 27, 2007 from http://www.mirc.com/

ICQ. (2007, January 24). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:57, January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ICQ&oldid=102904759

MSN Messenger. (2007, January 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:31pm, January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MSN_Messenger&oldid=102749081

4:27 PMi hate HOMEWORKY

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