Instant messaging

The instant messaging allows the instantaneous exchange of textual messages between several Ordinateur S connected to very the Data-processing network, most commonly that of Internet. Contrary to the Email, these means of communication are characterized by the fact that the messages are posted in quasi-time-reality and allow an interactive dialog.

Synonyms and Francization

The instant messaging is often indicated under the name cat (of the verb English to cat , to chatter). cat and the verb chatter is often used in French (in Franglais for some) to indicate the instant messaging. A writing often used for this pronunciation is the frequent male name tchat , which is used in order not to confuse the pronunciation with that of the Chat (the animal). Several French-speaking sites of discussion use this mot. besides.

The Québécois Office of the French language proposed (in October 1997), with a certain success, the Mot-valise clavardage made of “keyboard” and “chattering”, entered the Petit Larousse 2004.

In France, the general Commission of terminology and neology had initially proposed causette in 1999. It ravisée in April 2006 and henceforth proposes dialog in line with the following definition: “Conversation between several people connected at the same time to a network, who exchange messages posting itself in real-time on their screen. ”. This term is present in the terminological of DGLF and obligatory base for the administration S and services of the French State. In practice, the term did not enter of use. It is absent from site of the French government for example, for the benefit of the term “ cat ”.

The female word tchatche , borrowed from French of North Africa and France, was spread spontaneously like its derivatives: “tchatcher” and “tchatchor”. This word, which was borrowed in English and became cat , drift of the Spanish , will cháchara , “chattering”.

The Abréviation IM of the Sigle English Instant Messaging is sometimes used, also IMP for “Moment Messaging and Presence”.

One uses sometimes webchat or , to specify that the communication is done on a Web page (like Yahoo! Groups). This means is minority. It uses the Web, a technology not conceived for the clavardage.

Operation

The instant messaging requires the use of a Software customers which is connected to a waiter of instant messaging. It differs from the Email owing to the fact that the conversations proceed instantaneously (almost in real-time, temporal constraints not being strong in these systems). The majority of the modern services offer a system of notification of presence, indicating if the individuals of the contact list are simultaneously in line and their availability to discuss.

In the very first programs of instant messaging, each letter appeared at the recipient as soon as it was typed, and when letters were unobtrusive to correct a fault, that was also seen in real-time. That made resemble rather the communication a telephone call than with an exchange of messages. In the modern programs of instant messaging, the recipient sees the message shipper to appear it only when this one validated it.

The majority of the applications of instant messaging make it possible to regulate a message of statute, which fulfills the same function as a message of answering machine, for example to indicate the cause of a unavailability.

While evolving/moving, the instant messaging integrated the functionalities of voice and video thanks to a Webcam, but also any kind of collaboratives applications (white table, text-editing, plays, etc), of sending of automatic messages and notifications (supervision, “push” of information, etc).

Slang

The instant messaging has its own language. The discussions taking place in real-time, the speed of writing makes it more fluid, from where the use of short cuts of writing, in particular to express the frame of mind of the author (see the emoticon S). These short cuts are often automatically replaced by an image of hoe.

History

The instant messaging one by one is a rather old idea: under UNIX, it exists since good a long time, in the form of text, thanks to the order talk , then under Windows, there was the equivalent fenestrated with WinPopUp , these two systems being based on the pair user/machine.

The protocol open standard Internet Relay Chat (IRC) also provides him since 1988, of the simple functionalities of discussion with several (they for summer have extended by the use of robots). The protocol open Zephyr, created to MIT the same year, is a very simple whole of basic services, used in the university world states-unien.

These two manners of conversing on the network are not however yet what is called the instant messaging, owing to the fact that there is not or little authentification nor of management of presence.

The modern instant messaging general public was revealed by a young person Israeli Entreprise , Mirabilis, by introducing ICQ in 1996. One of the principal innovations was the management of a contact list personnel. In 1998, Mirabilis was repurchased by the group AOL Time Warner.

In 1998, the free and open protocol Jabber is created as well as the closed protocol and owner QQ, the Chinese clone of ICQ.

Since the success of ICQ, many communication protocols incompatible, owners and closed were developed and proposed free by content providers of Internet (Yahoo! Messenger in 1998, MSN Messenger in 1999 and Gadu-Gadu in 2000). The advantage for them is to constitute a broad user base prisoners, then of being able to send Publicité to them, to propose paying wide services to them, etc

In 2002, one records as many emails that instantaneous messages exchanged in the world; the number of users of the instant messaging is estimated at 360 million. The closing of the networks, their bulk-heading, their incompatibility and their not-interworking returns the instant messaging on Internet in a state of fragmentation which does not exist in the field of the email and of the Web.

In 2004, Jabber/XMPP is standardized like open standard by IETF, the organization of standardization of the protocols of the Internet. Jabber is to date the only standardized system, open standard, not closed and not owner, who is very actively developed by hundreds even thousands of developers, administrators and million impassioned users, like by great names of computing industry: Google, IBM, Sun, France Telecom/Wanadoo/Orange Internet, etc

In 2005, work on the multi-media support of the sessions, whose voice on IP, is started again thanks to the protocol Jingle (Jabber) delivered by Google Talk.

In 2006, conventions of naming for the identifiers of instant messaging (“IRI/URI design”) are adopted by IETF: they are based on the protocol Jabber.

Open standards and standards

The landscape of the instant messagings arrived at a parcelling out and a fragmentation such as the users of networks owners and closed are in the incapacity to communicate with the other networks and protocols: they are locked up and cannot leave there any more because of the network effect (it would be necessary for them to rock all their contacts towards a network and protocol open standard).

One attends an extreme bulk-heading which was almost never seen in any other field: three wide-area networks owners are used by several tens or hundreds of million users; they are locked up and cannot communicate with the hundreds of million users of the other networks.

Only the protocol Jabber is standardized by IETF, the organization which standardized the protocols of the Internet, under the name XMPP.

A standard of URI is available since May 2006 in the form xmpp: user@domaine with the image of the URI for the email mailto:user@domaine .

Jabber (protocol XMPP) thus became the equal one of the Web (protocols HTTP and HTTPS) and of the email (protocols smtp, POP and IMAP).

Communication protocols

Here principal protocols and some programs customers to use them:

  • Open standards:
    • Jabber/XMPP: List of customers Jabber (the systems Google Talk and Orange Link are based on Jabber/XMPP)
    • IRC: List of customers IRC
    • SIMPLE SIP/: Pidgin

  • Protocols owners:

    • AIM : Adium, AIM, Pidgin, IChat, Kopete, Miranda IM, Trillian
    • Gadu-Gadu: Gadu-Gadu, Pidgin, Kopete, Miranda IM
    • ICQ: Adium, Pidgin, IChat, ICQ, Kopete, Miranda IM, Trillian
    • Lotus Sametime: Lotus Sametime, Pidgin
    • Note One
    • Novell GroupWise: Kopete, Miranda IM, Pidgin
    • QQ: QQ, Pidgin
    • Skype: Miranda IM, Skype
    • Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger: Adium, AMSN, Pidgin, Kopete, Mercury Messenger, Miranda IM, Windows Live Messenger, Trillian, Yahoo! Messenger
    • Yahoo! Messenger: Adium, Pidgin, Kopete, Miranda IM, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger

Software customers

Some software customers giving access several networks:

  • Adium : Free software for Mac OS X supporting protocols AIM/ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! , Rendezvous, Yahoo! Japan, Gadu-Gadu, Jabber, Napster, Sametime Lotus (via the Plugin Meanwhile) and GroupWise Novell; it is an graphical interface based on the software Pidgin (ex-Gaim);
  • AIM : Software owner (name éponyme with its protocol) for Windows and Mac OS 9 supporting protocols AIM/ICQ;
  • Exodus : Free software for Windows supporting the protocol Jabber;
  • Gajim : Free software for Linux, Windows and FreeBSD supporting the protocol Jabber;
  • Google Talk: Software owner for Windows supporting the protocols Jabber and Google Talk;
  • IChat : Software owner for Mac OS X supporting the protocols AIM/ICQ and Jabber;
  • ICQ : Software owner (name éponyme with its protocol) for Windows supporting protocols AIM/ICQ;
  • Kopete : Free software for GNU/Linux (KDE) supporting protocols AIM/ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Gadu-Gadu, GroupWise Novell, and others;
  • Miranda IM : Free software for Windows managing MSN, AIM/ICQ, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, Novell GroupWise, Yahoo! , Tlen and others;
  • Pidgin (in the past Gaim): Free software for GNU/Linux (GNOME) and Windows supporting protocols XMPP (Jabber), AIM/ICQ, Zephir, IRC, MSN, Gadu-Gadu, GroupWise Novell, Napster, Yahoo! , Hello, Google Talk (based on XMPP), QQ, SILC, Simple, Sametime Lotus and MySpace;
  • Psi : Free software for GNU/Linux (KDE), Windows and Mac OS X supporting the protocol Jabber;
  • Trillian : Software owner for Windows supporting the protocols ICQ/AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, IRC like with Jabber and Novell GroupWise by the means of Plugin S;
  • Windows Live Messenger: Software owner for Windows like for Mac OS X supporting the protocols MSN and Yahoo! ;
  • Yahoo! Messenger: Software owner for Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and Unix supporting the Yahoo! protocols and MSN.

Note that all the Jabber customers give access the other networks, by the means of the transport Jabber (footbridges).

Others only make it possible to be connected that with only one network:

  • AMSN : Free software for Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Linux and Windows supporting protocol MSN;
  • Mercury Messenger: Software owner for Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Linux and Windows supporting protocol MSN;
  • IntraMessenger software free owner (Freeware) for Windows supporting its own communication protocol with its waiter part (see in the chapter server softwares).

Server softwares

Waiter Jabber:

  • Ejabberd
  • Jabberd or jabberd14
  • Jabberd2
  • Tigase
  • Openfire
Others:
  • BitlBee (footbridge IRC towards Jabber: BitlBee is a waiter IRC and customer Jabber)
  • Novell GroupWise (owner)
  • Lotus Sametime (owner)
  • Microsoft Live Communication Server (owner)
  • THeUDS IntraMessenger (software owner) using the free software and MySQL

See too

clavardage|clavardage cat|cat

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