SCHOOL OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Modern Chat Technology

Report By: Tran Kien Thuc Heng Soon Lai Tan Chi Yun Muhd Jufri Liu Lutao Group: FEPB1 14th MARCH 2008

ii. Table of Content

1. Introduction

1.1. 1.2. 1.3.

2. Background 2.1. 2.2.

Purpose Problem Scope Theory History

The Importance of Chat Technology in Modern Life The Appearance of Internet and IRC Modern Chat Technology 3. Discussion 3.1. Chat Application Services Yahoo! Messenger Introduction Yahoo Architecture AOL Introduction AIM Architecture MSN Introduction MSN Architecture 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. Features Advantages of Chat Technology Disadvantages of Chat Technology Supreme Chat Application Improvement Summary Recommendation

3.6.
4. Conclusion 4.1. 4.2. 5. References

iii. List of illustration

List of Figure

List of Table

iv. Glossary
ARPANET - Advanced Research Projects Agency Network AIM AOL CTSS IM IRC MIT Multics - AOL Instant Messenger - American Online Service - Compatible Time-Sharing System - Instant Messenger - Internet Relay Chat - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MULtiplexed Information and Computing Service

1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose Can I have your MSN? is the basic question among people nowadays in our modern society. As the technology of instant messaging is developing very fast, people are frequently using different types of chat software in their daily life to communicate with friends, relatives and colleagues. The purpose of this report is to provide a general state of instant messaging, including its history, development, advantages, disadvantages, security and improvement of modern chat technology. 1.2. Problem

Different chatting software has changed our life a lot by exploiting many practical functions compared with traditional communication tools. It was firstly used only to contact with others. As it is developing from time to time, it is now applied to many aspects such as games, news and so on. In our project, we would like to focus on its history, i.e., the origin of the chat development, followed by the technical aspect of modern chat technology, for instance, the architectures. Then we will provide a brief introduction on some outstanding features of some popular chat applications. After that, we will talk about the security of chat software, followed by the advantages and disadvantages of it. We also compare the three biggest players in the market, which is MSN, AIM and Yahoo! Messenger and find out the superior one. Besides, we figure out the improvement that the software need in the future. Lastly, we evaluate about the career prospect form the hardware and software aspects. 1.3. Scope

This report will be limited to the general theoretical approaches underlying the chat architecture; it will not investigate the actual technology used by the companies to implement these theoretical approaches.

2. Background
2.1. Theory
The Importance of Chat Technology in Modern Life In our world today, communication and information are the most vital elements. We need to know the news as soon as possible, right after this thing happens. People Modern Chat Technology Page 1

can fax or email. However it is difficult to confirm whether the other party has received the information successfully. This is why the instant messaging software become popular and gain the widely acceptance around the world. Its cheaper, faster and more reliable than other ways of communication. Businessmen need it to talk with the customer, student need it to hang out with friends. Instant messaging software now apparently becomes an essential part of the Internet. 2.2. History

Online chat has a long and complicated history which includes many organizations and programmers. It seemed like chat software had developed at the same time with the computer network and communication technology. When the computers were connected to create a network, a natural idea came in: How to send a message from this one to the others. The first idea about the real-time chat software was dated back to 1960s; when people realized that some software is written for timesharing computers (the computers that were designed and programmed to send signal to other machines like printer) could support multi-user human communication. The first one was called .Saved (dot Saved) written by Noel Morris and Tom Van Vleck of MIT, was used in the multi-user network called CTSS and Multics. However at that time, most of the early software could only transmit messages between two users at a time. Later the enhancements supported the broadcast of messages to more than one user based on the userspecific computer address which is called IP nowadays. One of the old chat software called talk was operated by UNIX computers on the APARNET network. It required the users to log in the same computer so that one user could send message to another. The well-known feature of this program is when every character typed by the user, it would appear at the same time on the screen of the receiver. At the early stage, most of the software was used by the government or specialists, making it not suitable for the ordinary users. The Appearance of Internet and IRC The most considerable change in chat technology occurred when Tim Berners-Lee suggested a new protocol for information distribution which in turn gave birth to Internet. Internet boom thus links millions of computers together so it demands a

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new user-friendly chat service which is much easier to use than other software before. Hence the appearance of Internet Relay Chat is inevitable. IRC was first developed by a Finnish graduate student named Jarkko Oirikanen .He improved the chat program named Multi-User Talk which was based on talk, an early program running on Unix Computers. The program was greeted by many Universities in both side of the Atlantic and soon became popular all over the world. IRC itself is a teleconferencing system, which (through the use of the client-server model) is well-suited to running on many machines in a distributed fashion. A typical setup involves a single process (the server) forming a central point for clients (or other servers) to connect to, performing the required message delivery/multiplexing and other functions. Jarkko Oirikanen said. [2] Modern Chat Software ICQ is a one more step to the nowadays instant messaging programs. In 1996, four young Israeli Yair Goldfinger, Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser, and Amnon Amir, started a company called Mirabilis to introduce a new way of communication over the Internet. They created a technology that would enable Internet users to locate each other online on the Internet and create peer-to-peer communication called ICQ (I seek you ) . After that AOL acquired ICQ and created his own IM programs AIM. Its service allows all registered users to communicate in real time via text, voice, and video over the Internet. With the number of Internet users increased rapidly over the years, IM service obviously becomes a lucrative market that attracts many players. Soon after AOL launched AIM, many technology giants jumped into this field. Another big company, Microsoft, which has a large share in Operating System and Internet Browser market, doesnt want to be an outsider in this field. The other well-known is Yahoo! Messenger. Besides these three companies, there are other types of instant messaging services available. The Table 1 gives a view on the available versions for PC and MAC from different chat software companies.

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Modern IM Chat Providers Table 1 Chat Software AOL Instant Message ICQ MSN Messenger Yahoo Messenger Paltalk iChat IBM lotus Sametime Skype GoogleTalk Trillian Company AOL AOL Microsoft Yahoo HearMe Apple IBM eBay Google Cerulean Studio Launched Year May 1997 November 1996 July 22 , 1999 March 09,1998 unknown unknown unknown January 05, 2005 Early 2007 July 01 2000 Version Available PC MAC

Today chat service is just the battle between big three: MSN Yahoo and AOL. In the July of 2004 the AOL still keep the first position with 37% (including ICQ) but MSN and Yahoo also have a rapid leap with 25% of MSN and 33% of Yahoo[3]. If Microsoft successfully acquired Yahoo, MSN emerges as the biggest player. Some begins to fear a monopoly of Microsoft in this game. Fortunately with the introduction of Google Talk into the market, the battle in modern chat services will never be boring.

3. Discussion
While most instant messenger programs allow users to perform the most basic task of sending text-based messages to others online, each one is a little bit different from the next. From features like voice and video chat to file sharing to integration allowing messages to be sent to cell phones, finding the best instant messenger can be difficult without comparing them beforehand.

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As everyone might already have known, there are currently 11 chat software out in the market. However we dont feel that there is a need to compare all of them individually. Therefore we will only be looking at the 3 leading instant messenger client: AOL AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. All are free and are primarily geared toward casual Internet use but work acceptably in an office environment as well. In our comparison, we examine these clients strength and weakness. Another reason why we choose to compare these 3 clients, they are the most cultural influence. In other words, these are the 3 clients that are widely used in the community. Like in the Singapore community, there are much more MSN messenger user as compared to AOL AIM or Yahoo Messenger. However this is not the case in the United State. Instead AOL AIM is the much more used client as compared to MSN messenger. Thus we feel that it is more feasible if we do a comparison between the clients that is widely used instead of a lesser known client. We also feel that these three clients, the feature wise, they are the most advanced. A lot of improvement have been made for them that they are more than just a chatting client. Because of these improvements done on them, we feel that they have more features and more functions then other instant messaging clients. 3.1 Chat Application Services AOL introduction AOL (American Online) has created two types of instant messengers including Buddy List and AIM. Buddy List is created solely for AOL subscribers and also the first messaging software available in the mid 1990s. As the years passed, four young Israeli Yair Goldfinger, Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser, and Amnon Amir started Mirabilis. It is an Israeli based company that developed ICQ, another messaging software, in 1996. Thus it became popular due to its platform supporting most of the Operating Systems (Windows and Macintosh). Within a short duration of 6 months, it had over 850,000 registered users. This made AOL decided to launch AIM on multiple platforms too. In the year 1998, AOL bought over Mirabilis and managed their both services separately. [1] AIM Architecture

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AIM works in a client-server model by allowing multiple clients to link to its server to enable communication among users. Authentication to the server is needed to allow clients to use the service by entering username and password. Once verified by the server, messages sent by clients will be transmitted to the immediate server to do the processing and routing to the appropriate clients. Protocols used in the server consist of either OSCAR or TOC to allow communication on AIM and ICQ respectively. As seen in Figure 1.1 login information will be sent to the OSCAR server. The server takes care of verifying the users information. Upon approval, a cookie and IP (Internet Protocol) of the Basic OSCAR Service (BOS) server will be sent to the respective user. The functions of BOS servers take care of routing messages and also negotiate between clients for file transfer function. The cookie will become invalid once the user logs out.

Figure 1.1 [2] Information about most of the protocols used by AOL came from observation of users, through information from websites, reverse engineering and data packet capturing utilities. Thus realizing that clients information are not encrypted makes reverse engineering easily done. Changes are often done on the OSCAR protocol by AOL to prevent any third party clients to connect to its server. Thus allows more security to actual AIM users when they are connected to the server. In late September 1998, AOL released a new protocol named TOC meant for third party developers to create messengers for other Operating Systems not supported by AOL. But TOC is not as robust as OSCAR as it is the subset of it and also has many missing features. In addition, iChat, which belongs to AOL, is created and meant for Macintosh users. This software consists of many features which includes turning any video chat into an event, video backdrops, photo booth effects, photo slideshows and etc.

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Yahoo! Messenger Introduction As ICQ and AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) starts to gain popularity and amassed millions of users, Yahoo! decides to build its own chat service. Yahoo! Pager, the client that is released allows connection to AIM network. AOL based messengers work on closed networks with a large amount of users. The only way users can communicate with another user is to have either an AOL client or compatible clients that allow communication on multiple networks . Yahoo! realized that the quickest way is to build their own user base for instant messaging clients that connect to the majority online instant messaging users and also to their own networks. Things did not turn out well as AOL changed their protocol to restrict access to their network. Yahoo! gave up on multi-protocol clients after several attempts of keeping up with the change to the AOL protocol for their own clients. They instead focused on building their own service and increasing distribution of their own clients. Yahoo! managed to attract users and also growing steadily since its early days when it was known as Yahoo! Pager. Its current version, Yahoo! Messenger, comes with features of other instant messaging clients and uses many functions of the Yahoo! Internet portal. This becomes an appropriate choice to frequent users of Yahoo! Services. Figure 1 shows the messengers main window. The tabs at the bottom of the window shows various available features if the portal. The personalized features of My Yahoo! Portal can be accessed directly within the messenger window. Yahoo! Architecture The architecture of the Yahoo! Messenger works on a client server model basis having multiple clients connecting to the main server. The messenger uses a default port to allow communication with its servers. If this port is not available, the software will try to communicate using any available port to communicate with the centralized servers. Thus it is extremely difficult to block the messenger with the ability to connect using any available ports. The messenger is capable to evade firewalls employing protocol analysis by adding a HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) header to the packet.

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Figure 1 [1] Yahoo! Messenger changes their protocol very rapidly and also ensuring no access to its network by third party clients. This provides the incentive to continuously improve its protocol. With the rapid change to its protocol, it is not easily understood and documented like other competing instant messaging services protocols. . The user will enter his/her Yahoo! ID and password, which will be encrypted before, sending to the Yahoo server for authentication by using the challenge-response method. Once authenticated by the server, the user will receive a cookie and signed into the service. With this cookie access to the functions of Yahoo like e-mail service, checking stock prices and many more customized portal functions. The messenger will display the users contacts and their status like (offline, busy, etc) and also retrieve/store messages sent by other users when the user is offline.

MSN introduction MSN Messenger (Microsoft) started in the year 1999, at that time they do not have large amount of users and thus decided to have the ability to connect to AIM. What Microsoft did was to hope that they will have a bigger user community while they are building up their Messenger service. As AIM realized what MSN Messenger could do, they decided to change its protocol to prevent the access of users from this client application. But that did not make Microsoft to give up; instead they also change their client software to allow communication with AIM again. In the end, Microsoft came out with 21 different versions in the same year (1999) ending with version 2.0. The MSN of today have included lots of functions like joining itself with the e-mail service Hotmail, audio conversation, and communication over the web cam, file sharing and so on. [5] Modern Chat Technology Page 8

MSN Architecture The architecture of MSN relies on 5 different servers to take care of the communication as well as the operation services. The servers details can be found in Table 1 as shown below. MSN uses the protocol MSNP (Mobile Status Notification Protocol) to allow communication between the client and server. Later in the year 1999, Microsoft came out with the version 2 draft of MSNP but it decided to stop using it in October 2003. This cause much trouble to the users as they had no choice but to upgrade their client software that support MSNP of version 8 or even higher. Table 1 [5] Types of Server Dispatch Server Notification Server Description Search for the locations of the servers and send back the IP (Internet Protocol) address of these servers to client. This server basically handles almost everything. From handling sessions between clients to getting the status of the user (e.g online, busy, offline and etc) in order to .NET Passport Login Server inform other users of their presence. This server is used within the authentication process. It will provide a cookie to complete whole process that is Nexus Server going on with the Notification Server It will provide the users with the link of the Passport Server as well as the information that will be useful during Switchboard Server the authentication process. This server does the switching of messages between users and also handles file transfer function. Having a .NET Passport allows users to login to MSN Messenger service. After connection to the Dispatch Server, the Notification Server will issue a challenge code to the user after verification of clients Passport. Next, the Nexus Server will send the link of the Password Server to the user to notify where to send the Passport and password to. The Notification Server will maintain constant connection with the client and also receive the presence of the user through a three letter code. The code and status about the presence of the user can be found in the Table 1.1.

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Table 1.1 (page 102) [6] Once presence of user is set in the Notification Server, the users unread messages and contact list will be sent to the user. The whole process will complete when the Passport ID, nickname and contact group (which contact list is in which group) is sent to the user. Lastly the Switchboard Server will handle any communication started by the user. The architecture of MSN servers is shown in Figure 1.2. Figure 1.2 page 101 [6] Features As chat technology is getting more popular, more and more features are becoming available within the software. From just a simple text-based chat, it evolved in order to suit the taste and needs of end users with advance functions like audio and vision chat as well as traditional phone calling into its software. Users can interact, communicate and also having interactive entertainment to help in relaxing themselves. Figure 2 shows the features of each of the software from the research on the 3 software by our team.

Features Text Chat Voice Chat Audio Video Chat Conference Online Games File Transfer Offline Messaging Chat Room Multiple-Platform Chat Avatar Display PC to Phone Call PC to Phone Text

MSN

Chat Software Yahoo

AOL

Figure 2 Symbol Representation Symbol Icon Definition The feature is included in the respective product. The feature is not included in the respective product Figure 2.1 Modern Chat Technology Page 10

Text Chat The basic chat feature that allows text messages to be sent in a one-to-one chat and one-to-many chat conversation is existed in all the chat products. In one-to-one chat, it involves two end-users communicating through text message in the same chat window. However in a one-to-many chat conversation, more than two end-users are communicating together in the same chat window. Messages can be sent out simultaneously during the text chat even when other party is typing the message. Emoticons are available in MSN, Yahoo and AOL where users can express their emotion expression to the other party during the chat. Voice Chat It is a voice chat over the internet with the other side of the party using PC-to-PC mode with the aid of the chat software. The accessories that are needed will be a microphone and speaker. To establish the voice communication, both users must be online using the chat software. In MSN and AOL only one-to-one voice chat communication, but in Yahoo it allows multiple users chat conversation to be established. Audio Video Chat Audio Video Chat allows a live video of the two end-users with the assistance of web cam while communicating through voice simultaneously. MSN, Yahoo and AOL chat software have this feature. Conference It is an online chat conference where one end-user can invite the other online end-user in his/her contact list to join his/her conference room. It is communicated by sending text message into the conference window. Online Games Online games provide the entertainment to the end-user where they will have fun interaction with each other. In MSN, this feature is integrated into the software and installed by default. In AOL, it needs to install QQ game plug-in in order for the online games feature to be enabled. However in Yahoo, it only provides a link to start the online games and requires the web browsers to run the game. File Transfer Modern Chat Technology Page 11

It allows users (sender) to transfer files directly to the other party (receiver) that is from his/her contact list within the chat software. The speed of the file transfer will be dependable on the internet speed connection. Offline Messaging Users can send an offline message to a contact that is not online. Once the offline user login, he/she will be able to receive the message instantly. Chat Room It is a live chat room where group can come together for the particular interest in various topics to interact with each other. Only Yahoo software has this feature which enables them to join into the chat room. This feature is not available in MSN and AOL software. Multiple-Platform Chat This feature is about the ability to communicate with other chat service and its own service. Currently only MSN and Yahoo users are able to chat with each other. They do not need to use the same software to contact each other. For instance, Yahoo users who are using Yahoo Messenger can send text messages to MSN users who are using MSN Live Messenger. However AOL service does not have this capability to communicate with MSN or Yahoo service. Avatar Display This feature can form individual identity for each contact in the chat software. The user can choose the images for display to his/her online friends. PC to Phone Call This feature allows the user to call the contact persons mobile. PC to Phone Text This feature allows the user to send SMS message to the persons mobile. Screenshot of the 3 chat software can be found in Appendix A.

3.2 : Advantages of Chat Technology

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Currently, chat technology is a much underutilized platform for communication. People tend to only make use of chat technology as a form of just talking to friends. However, people get creative and use it for more than just talking with friends. The followings are some of the few advantages the chat technology platform offers. Allow "instant" communications between people Chat technology is used by people to talk "live" to other users that are online at that time. Usually, the use of chat technology is to stay in touch with families and friends and also the main reason why people use chat technology. This brings about another advantage to this chat technology which is saving time. Chat technology lets you communicate with people over the Internet in real time. You can send and receive messages instantly because unlike using email you don't have to wait for messages to download from a server. Because of this real-time interaction, instant messages are better for capturing humor and the subtle nuances of communication. Becoming a substitute for face to face communication Socialization through chat technology has become a growing trend. Online communications is quickly becoming a substitute for face to face communications. The increasing availability of online communication tools has not only increased the efficiency in which humans interact, but has also brought about changes in the way humans interact. Due to the interpersonal boundaries of chat technology, it is easy for people to express themselves in manners that would less likely take place in a more personal setting. However some would see this as a negative point as there is now lack of control and regulation.

Discussion may be completed in a much shorter time Chat technology seems to have few advantages over news groups, forums, or mailing lists (asynchronous discussions) - with one exception. Discussions on complicated concepts, when conducted in asynchronous mode, can take many days, or even weeks, to complete. Through chat technology, the same discussion may be completed in a much shorter time. This can be very important in teaching in things like math, science, and technology. Modern Chat Technology Page 13

"Buddy list," which is a compilation of your contacts The greatest advantage that chat technology has is the ability to create a "buddy list," which is a compilation of your contacts. Buddy lists allow you to create workgroups strictly for business purposes. Alert notices help you track the online status of people on your buddy list so you always know who's available. You can also reach them quickly usually just by double-clicking on their name. Instant messengers now come with more features Most instant messengers now come with an option where files can be transferred between users. This is particularly useful for students who have projects to transfer to one another. It might even benefit travelers who want to show pictures of themselves to family and friends back home. Files can be transferred through the given program. Cameras connected to computers can be used to view images of other people in a chat technology conversation. Easy for the average person to understand and use Over the years, a lot of improvement has been made to the user interface. It has been made so user friendly that even a kid is able to use it. Thus this makes it a great communication tool for planning social activities within a group of people. Chat technology is available whenever and wherever you can connect to the Internet. The few advantages discussed above are meant for personal usage making communication easier between friends and families. More advantages of chat technologies towards business usage that could save time and money can be found in Appendix B.

3.3 : Disadvantages of Chat Technology

With the use of Instant Messengers, it also causes problems to people. One of the problems is that it lacks the emotion of speaking to a real person face to face. This makes the user unable to see the facial expression of the other user making it dangerous to all kind of threats like social engineering, sending of viruses and etc. Writing words in abbreviated forms Modern Chat Technology Page 14

As the usage of chat software is getting common, people tends to write in abbreviated form. The reason behind this is due to preventing the repetitive typing of the same word again and again where everyone on the messenger understands what it means. This makes users like students to have problem in writing proper sentences as it had became a habit of writing in abbreviated words. Using of abbreviated words could make students to have problems in spelling out the word correctly in whole. As shown in Table 3 below are some of the examples of the abbreviated words. Examples of abbreviated words: Table 3 Common abbreviated words Brb Tml Np Lol U R Correct meaning of word Be right back Tomorrow No problem Laugh out loud You Are

Another disadvantage of instant messaging is that during file transfers between users, it could post a threat to the users. Users that are either sending or receiving files could actually be spreading viruses that could be disastrous. An example could be seen below as a kind of social engineering between friends in Figure 3.

Example of social engineering

Figure 3

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From Figure 3, the users friend had succeeded in sending a virus and causing the user to be infected. After effect of virus attack Having virus attacks could cause many problems to the user. The users computer will have the problem of being unable to login or unable to startup thus making difficulties to the user. Another problem is the contacts of the user will also be involved. Friends could also unknowingly send a file which contains viruses or even Trojan horses to the other party. What some of these threats can do is to modify particular files within the system, dispatch the virus itself to the other contacts of the user. Some info about the virus attacks regarding about each of the chat software can be found in Appendix C.

3.4 Supreme Chat Application

Following the points above, we will continue to discuss about which chat program is superior to the others. Our answer is MSN. Firstly, as a product of Microsoft, MSN is the most well-known among the three programs. It is used and accepted by many people all over the world. From this aspect, it wins. Secondly, it has more additional functions compared with Yahoo! Messenger and AOL. For instance, MSN has a deal with Pandora, an Internet radio service that allows people to build a music play list based on preferences. It's similar to what you can do at other music sites, such as Last.fm. [1]. Another example is that it supports application sharing which allows two users to utilize the same program at the same time. [2] Thirdly, as an important part of instant messenger, MSN provides better mail service than other two. It let advanced users manage their email, contacts, and calendars with Outlook or Outlook Express, professional-quality programs with excellent filtering functions. Whats more, MSN hotmail concerns more on security. It will automatically scan the attachments of mails and automatically delete the files that have been attacked by virus according to its anti-virus service. At the same time, it uses the technology of Microsoft called Smartscreen, together with the personal settings of the user and the measure of reporting junk mails to head off junk mails furthest.

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Fourthly, users can go to channels of MSN community, download, games, etc very conveniently. Along with the development, MSN provides mobile service and more searching service. Besides, MSN cooperates with some big companies to provide new services, which covers many areas to aim at the market of different users.

3.5 Improvement
As we mentioned before, security is always the problem that we pay attention to. Instant messaging networks provide the ability to transfer messages and transfer of files. All files on a computer can be shared using the instant messaging client, and the information can be eavesdropped to unauthorized viewing. Whats more, many e-mails may contain new virus, whereby the anti-virus and firewall vendors are unable to detect it. What we expect is that we need a chat program that provides the highest security. For the file sharing, one effectively way is to restrict access. They can be improved to restrict access to certain folders and to configure the access to this shared folder. Additional settings are recommended that configure the client to display a dialog box to approve of a user accessing data in users shared folders. For the mail service, virtual folders or labels are highly recommended. Junk mail filter are needed, as well as POP or IMAP access and email encryption and digital signatures. In the following we will discuss about the improvements required in these chat software, respectively.

MSN: This chat program has some weakness for improvement. In the voice chat, it is capable of supporting two people vocal communication. However this feature is disabled when a chat conference for a group of more than two people is established. Despite having installed of the anti-virus program, the risk of exposing to a virus in the chat software is high as the URL link, which contains virus, or a virus file could be sent out anonymously from an text message of his/her online friends virus-infected controlled computer and infects the user computer upon opening the link or downloading the file without raising any suspicious alert due to friends trust. Besides this, this is necessary to have encryption feature to the text communication to prevent virus from controlling it and also

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can prevent spy on the matzo conversation. Therefore security enhancement need improving by adding encryption to the text message and also have a built-in virus scanner for the chat program as a front filter against any harm virus or malware/spyware. Yahoo Messenger: When using Yahoo Messenger for video chat communication, the webcam is separated from the main chat screen. It causes an inconvenience to the user as any overlap from the screen or from the text screen will cause either one of them unable for viewing. As a result, the user will not be able to view the text conversation and video simultaneously. The user may have to keep switching the screen. Therefore there is a need to integrate the video into the chat screen to provide more user-friendly. AOL: The main weakness with this software is that when using voice chat between users a new window is opened up. This window is to show if there is any talking that is going on from either side of the users. This shows that the software is operating on two different windows separately instead of together. The best way to solve this problem is to have the voice chat function to be incorporated in the AIM messenger window. Thus, making it look more user friendly and having both voice and text chat easily handled by the users.

3.5 Career Prospect

Career Prospect is grouped into two aspects: Hardware, Software. Hardware Aspect This field is certainly the strong point for a computer engineer. Modern chat technology is not simply about typing, sending and receiving message. There are also voice chat, which means talking with people through internet, file transfer with unrestricted size and usage of webcam for video chat. All of them are the feature of chat technology and all requires a strong reliability on the hardware. The instant messaging suppliers need a excellent and fast network, comprising of strong computers, huge hard drive and the best technology in data transfer, while ordinary users need sophisticated electronic device like webcam and microphone to chat. This group of engineers is essential in

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maintaining the server or the host computers of the suppliers. There are job opportunities in this hardware field. Software Aspect In this area, a good programming computer engineer can always find a good job. Firstly an engineer can find him useful in development of chat software like yahoo messenger or MSN Messenger. He/She can join the research team of other company to upgrade or improve the current software version. Below shows a list of some fields that is in thirsty of manpower: 1. Security in Instant Messaging: This includes in developing some useful tools to block the virus spreading through Instant Messaging Programs, adding some feature to increase the privacy for the users, that means protecting users from being logged in and read the information by someone else. 2. Developing and Upgrading: Including fixing the error of the current version and upgrade some functions for the programs , such as allow talking through internet , sending image better through internet or design a better and friendly interface which attracts more users. 3. Advertisement: Chat software is a gold mine for advertisement with millions customers around the world. Hence a computer engineer can design some programs to support advertisement through this chat software. 4. Game Online through chat software: It allows users have joyful time with some small and interesting online games with their friends. Computer engineers can integrate interactive games into the chat software. 5. Connection between chat software in computer with other communication device: In the usage of the mobile phones, the users can communicate through mobile phone to the party, who are using computer, by sending text message, This modern chat technology is no longer confined to the need of desktop computer but has extended to usage of mobility with the help of mobile phone, PDA or any computer with internet access.

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4 Conclusion
Summary
After the research and discussion done by our group, we managed to learn quite a lot from the technological aspect of the three chat software. We realized the reason of why MSN, Yahoo and AOL are the biggest players in the industry of Instant Messaging. Due to its large amount of users, it has become a trend among people to use them as a form of communication between people. As discussed, the history of how the idea of text chats was started in the past and after the internet boom allowing multiple computers to be linked up. Thus there is a need for a chat service that allow users to communicate with each other . Each of the softwares architecture is being explained in detailed making our group to understand how they work. Now Instant Messaging is not only an application with chat function only, it is also integrated with functions like games, video conferencing, sharing files, voice chat and more. The features of the 3 software are compared and contrasted by using a table. It also became a target to hackers who causes troubles to users. Caution must be taken when involving transfer of files between users. Security measures have also been taken by the Instant Messaging companies to prevent these things from happening. Our group also listed out the advantages and disadvantages of using Instant Messengers. Finally we managed to find out the supreme chat software among the three , in Singapore , would be the MSN Messenger comparing to the other chat software. The reason why other kinds of chat programs, such as ICQ, will not be covered in this report is because they are not as widely use compared to the big players within the industry like MSN, Yahoo and AOL. By scaling down to the 3 software, we are able to do more specific tests and learn about them. The only limitation is when finding out the supreme software among the three. Thus we decided to just focus the use of the software within Singapore instead of globally.

Recommendation
According to our findings, our group would recommend the using of the MSN Messenger and service. A simple reason behind is that when a friend asking another friend for his IM contact, they would simply ask What is your MSN address? This in turn becomes a trend or influence among students or users making MSN becoming popular.

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References
Background : [1] John W.Rittinghouse , James F.Ransome , IM security , Elseiver Digital Press , 2005 [2] Internet Relay Chat(IRC) History http://www.livinginternet.com/r/ri_irc.htm accessed in 26-02-2008 [3] Paul L. Piccard, Brian Baskin, Craig Edwards, George Spillman, Securing IM and
P2P Applications for the Enterprise, 1st ed. Canada: Syngress Publishing, 2006 . Chat application [1] Paul L. Piccard, Brian Baskin, Craig Edwards, George Spillman, Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise, 1st ed. Canada: Syngress Publishing, 2006 (page 53) [2] Paul L. Piccard, Brian Baskin, Craig Edwards, George Spillman, Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise, 1st ed. Canada: Syngress Publishing, 2006 (Page 30) [3] Paul L. Piccard, Brian Baskin, Craig Edwards, George Spillman, Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise, 1st ed. Canada: Syngress Publishing, 2006 (page 26) [4] http://gridley.res.carleton.edu/~straitm/final/ (accessed 23, 2008) [5] http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/nov02/1108MSN8GlobalTimeLine.mspx (accessed 25, 2008) [6] http://www.hypothetic.org/docs/msn/sitev1/basics.php [7] Paul L. Piccard, Brian Baskin, Craig Edwards, George Spillman, Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise, 1st ed. Canada: Syngress Publishing, 2006 (page 102 ) Supreme chat [1] http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/61744.html?welcome=1205043536 [2]Paul L. Piccard, Brian Baskin, Craig Edwards, George Spillman, Marcus H. Sachs, Securing IM and P2P Applications for the enterprise , Syngress Publishing , Canada, 2006.

Modern Chat Technology

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Modern Chat Technology

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