IRC FAQs
Q:
What is IRC?
A: IRC stands for "Internet Relay
Chat". It was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen (jto@tolsun.oulu.fi)
in 1988. Since starting in Finland, it has been used in over 60 countries
around the world. It was designed as a replacement for the "talk"
program but has become much much more than that. IRC is a multi-user chat
system, where people convene on "channels" (a virtual place,
usually with a topic of conversation) to talk in groups, or privately.
IRC is constantly evolving, so the way things to work one week may not
be the way they work the next. Read the MOTD (message of the day) every
time you use IRC to keep up on any new happenings or server updates.
IRC gained international fame during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, where
updates from around the world came accross the wire, and most irc users
who were online at the time gathered on a single channel to hear these
reports. IRC had similar uses during the coup against Boris Yeltsin in
September 1993, where IRC users from Moscow were giving live reports about
the unstable situation there.
Q: What different
programs are available for me to use IRC?
A: There are several different clients
available for IRC such as:
- mIRC
- Netscape Chat
32-bit Client (Windows95/NT)
- WS-IRC
- mIRC
- PIRCH
- Visual IRC
16-bit Client (Windows 3.x)