Instant Messaging and Skype

Instant messaging is something I have used since starting College in the late 90s. My main reason for using it was to keep in contact with class mates during the summer months (usually when checking exam results :-/ stress) while using dial up, as broadband penetration was low in rural Ireland at that time and also mobiles were only becoming popular and call prices were high. My use of IM since that time has been sporadic and depends on who I need to contact where they are and what time zone they are in. It's quick and easy, I use skype to IM. Back in 1998 ICQ was popular but IM still remains despite new competing technologies such as Facebook. I really like what UCD use IM for, very good idea. Again I've been a skype user since the beginning and it is such a excellent tool. It's cross platform which means I use it on Linux and it's available for the iphone which is very handy if on a wifi network.