Simplify the following text for a Grade 7 native English-speaking person.
Original: The program was originally written in or before 1999 by Mark Spencer , an Auburn University sophomore , as an emulation of AOL 's IM program AOL Instant Messenger on Linux using the GTK + toolkit .
Simplified: The program was made in or before 1999 by Mark Spencer , an Auburn University sophomore . It was made to give the features of AOL Instant Messenger for Linux .