An open source server based chat channel for your local area network

Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log in to accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on MSN, talking to a friend on Google Talk, and sitting in a Yahoo chat room all at the same time.

Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log in to accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on MSN, talking to a friend on Google Talk, and sitting in a Yahoo chat room all at the same time. New release includes a ton of bug fixes, some new features, and a fix for a security issue.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfers via Direct Client-to-Client.

"The BerkeleyTIP group got Richard Stallman to stop by and chat on IRC in #berkeleyTIP on freenode today, May 17, 2009. They pushed him to get on Ekiga, but he doesn't have it setup yet. I thought this was kind of neat to have him get on IRC and chat on an open channel. The nickname for Richard is rmsgnu..."

The Linux operating system has gone through a number of “default” chat applications. From the earlier text-based chats like zicq, to the later Gaim, then to Pidgen (still in use), and now (and, hopefully, finally) GNOME has settled on Empathy.

After my post two weeks ago about Xen, I got a call from the XenSource people. I had a long chat with their CTO Simon Crosby, who had some very interesting things to say.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet chat or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group (many-to-many) communication in discussion forums called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message and data transfers via Direct Client-to-Client. Meanwhile, Instant Messaging (IM) is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. The text is conveyed via computers connected over a network such as the Internet.

I had an interesting chat yesterday with Javier Soltero, the CEO of open source web infrastructure management firm, Hyperic. We got to talking about the different attitudes to open source in the US and in Europe; you’ll recall a recent blog entry I did found slightly higher Linux desktop penetration in some European countries than in the US.