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an answer What the AOL IM patent really covers
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 04:36:33 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: "Faisal N. Jawdat" <faisal () faisal com> Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 01:27:27 -0800 To: dave () farber net, johnl () iecc com Subject: Re: [IP] What the AOL IM patent really covers
The application was filed on Jan 27, 1997, so the priority date would be Jan 27, 1996. Was anyone using an IM system with permanent user names and a buddy list server before that? The systems I used either used terminal names (TOPS-10 and Unix "talk") or per-session handles (IRC).
Zephyr, written at MIT. I was using a locally modified version on Carnegie Mellon's network in 1991. We had central servers, permanent user names (your userid, which was system wide and authenticated via kerberos), and the equivalent of buddy lists (with notification) via the service. The service was available on multiple platforms (unix tty, x windows, and on the mac). The X client supported text formatting, and through the use of some spare fields in the protocol we were able to hack in something like file transfer (actually pointers to files on the local network, since we had AFS to use as a global file store) and a number of other capabilities (e.g. semi private discussion groups which automatically changed location on a regular basis, etc.) Zephyr had some capabilities that AIM still lacks, such as "instances", which are to to chat rooms as mailing lists are to bulletin boards: you'd send a message to an instance and everyone subscribed would get a copy of the message (without having ot have a dedicated chat room window open). Feel free to forward the above to IP. Dr, Farber - you should have access at CMU. If you'd like to test it out, let me know and I'll see if I can find time during the day tomorrow to demo it for you (I still have an account with access). -faisal ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To unsubscribe or update your address, click http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- an answer What the AOL IM patent really covers Dave Farber (Dec 20)