Re[1]: ICQ for Gnome

["Eric M. Ludlam" <zappo ultranet com>]

>>> gnome-list-request@gnome.org  Tue May  5 12:29:49 1998 seems to think that:
>>It all may be moot anyway.  If Mirabilis drops the current protocol in 
>>favor of their newer one, which isn't understood, no one will get 
>>anywhere with any project.
>
>They will, cos they want a propietary system. It free (money) now, but do no
>expect freeness in the future. Thats the "because" I do not use or like ICQ.
  [ ... ]
>Of course the system should be a free standard (thats the way Internet
>works), and the basic implementations should be under GPL (thats the way you
>make sure everybody can use the system). Also commercial apps can be coded,
>but from scratch and following the standard.
>
>I can not code anything, but I can discuss the protocol ideas. Contact me
>those who find interesting this ICQ alternative (should a group write a RFC?).
  [ ... ]

I know very little of ICQ, but this discussion implicates its server
centric attitude.  A peer-to-peer version of this already exists
through the use of "finger" "rwho" and "talk".  Using these protocols,
you can do any kind of communication you may wish, except get a list
everyone on the planet who cares.  My officemate uses ICQ, and all he
uses it for is keeping up w/ folk for whom he already knows their
address.

As I've written a talk replacement and talkd replacement, I see no
reason why an ICQ style people browser can't also be created, given a
suitable list of addresses ahead of time, and it would probably be
much more accurate.

-Eric

-- 
|\/\/\___/\/\/|  Eric Ludlam                 zappo@gnu.org; zappo@ultranet.com
\____ o o ____/  Homepage:                      http://www.ultranet.com/~zappo
     )   (       Trebuchets:    http://www.ultranet.com/~zappo/trebuchet.shtml
    ( * * )      FSF:				            http://www.fsf.org
     \___/           "Have a fling with a Hudson Trebuchet Crew member"