In order for you to catch up on the week in one fell swoop the fab chaps I work with, round them all up and put them right here for you.
Instant messaging is hot.
The trouble is there are so many ways of doing it. Once you've got a few pals using it, chances are you'll have to have AOL's AIM, Microsoft's Messenger Service, ICQ and perhaps even IRC, all running together and cluttering things up. When things get busy, the different alert sounds can make things feel like typing in a pinball arcade - obviously, everything should work together. Yes, it'll work with the standards people, the company says, but it shows a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the task. And meanwhile, it's actively stopping anyone else from writing software that works with its service.