Web chat has been available to internet users for years, and continues to be one of the best ways to stay in touch with family and friends. When the Internet chat first developed you needed to open a pre-established browser to communicate but now it is possible to have private chat windows, instant messages and file sharing. You can even have streaming audio and video through a number of different servers.
Current Web Chat Options
There are a few instant messaging services that could be classified as must-haves. AIM and MSN Messenger are among the most popular, with ICQ and Yahoo! Messenger being high on the list as well. Its now possible, however, to use single services that are cross compatible with them all, requiring only one application being open instead of all of them.
Chat rooms have seen a huge increase in capability in the last few years as more and more people turn to DSL and Cable connections for their internet experience. These powerful connections permit home users to stream video and audio to their computers without having to download them first, while also allowing the use of web cams and microphones to communicate. Instant messenger programs integrate this functionality to make a more complete web chat experience.
New chat programs are being used every day to bridge several servers into one place. It can be a pain to keep several server windows open at once in order to communicate with people from AIM, MSN, and the others simultaneously. Now you can talk to everyone using one single program without having to run each service independently.
