On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:24:01 -0800, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:39:36 -0600, with neither quill nor qualm,
Ignoramus30324 quickly quoth:

Yes, it is instant chat. Yahoo messenger, google messenger, MSN, AOL,
ICQ, that's what pidgin does. It is available under Windows too.

Why use IM vs email or phone?

We use it extensively at work, here and my last two employers. Makes
collaboration in realtime easier - when several people are working on
the same, say, broken server, we can each be doing our part and keeping
the group updated on what's going on. Also works great for more
time-sensitive stuff like "I'm out of coffee, let's go" or figuring out
where lunch is.