Linux, online confrences, and IRC portals?

[Charles Hallenbeck]

Karen,

I did not mean to suggest that anything I said could solve your problem, 
but I hoped it might add to the context of text mode conferencing in 
Linux. If your folks are using a proprietary protocol that relies on 
java, you might very well be obliged to use a proprietary client that 
their service supports. As others have said, the problem with 
proprietary formats and protocols is that their owners do not want 
others to be able to use them, and so the only Linux solutions you will 
find will be those that have been reverse engineered without the 
permission of the owners. And such solutions are guaranteed to become 
outdated and inoperable as soon as the owners of the protocol decide to 
change their specs to exclude them. 

I think the bottom line of my earlier post would be that text mode 
conferencing works in Linux with open source GPL tools, but the issue of 
interacting with proprietary formats is iffy at best. I am not sure why 
you are hesitant to recommend to the AIR people that they switch to an 
open protocol that does not dictate which OS and which client their 
participants must use. Jabber would be one such open service, and it is 
all free for the asking.

Chuck

-- 
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