Chapter 4. Gaim: Multiprotocol Instant Messaging, and IRC, Too!

Words, words, words . . . and then a whole lot more words, all of them flowing from one person to another. Whatever cool content exists on the world’s Web sites, the Internet is still all about communication.

These days, a new kind of communication has evolved—call it mini-email. The one-liner. The short and sweet message. The instant message. The Net-connected society has grown to love those quick, always-on means of sending each other information. My own parents (who live in another province) send me a daily one-line weather report via their Jabber instant messaging client. If you are coming from the Windows world, there’s a good chance you already have one of these accounts, either ...

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