IRC


 * IRC or Internet Relay Chat**

//**History**//

In 1988 //Jarkko Oikarinen// began construction of a communications program which would be more accessible than that which had currently existed on many public BBS (Bulletin Board System) networks. The primary introduction of this IRC was to create a real time communication which could work as a person to person medium. This later influenced the creation of peer to peer (P2P) networks. Influenced by the earlier BRC (Bitnet Relay Chat), IRC soon strived with the reliability and global success BRC was unable to obtain. In time IRC also would replace BBS, which were at one time the sponsors of IRC.

tolsun.oulu.fi is the first ever IRC server, and is still accessible. This was originally set up from the University of Oulu in Finland (.fi).

By 1989 there were approximately 40 servers which could be found globally on IRC. But for a decade afterwards, IRC began to encounter obstacles and competition. By 1996, a similar competitor of IRC; EFnet was only 20,000 users shy of IRC’s numbers.

IRC has continued to strive and outlast other P2P networks. As communications have grown over the internet, P2P networks began to provide downloadable material, which IRC still competes with. IRC clients are currently accessible for the majority of current operating systems on the market.

Modern IRC networks are accessible by many clients (programs); only some of these are listed below: .NET Acorn/RiscOS Amiga Applet Atari BeOS CGI DOS EPOC Java MacOS MagicCap mIRC Newton, OS/2 PalmOS Unix Unix/X VM/CMS VMS WAP WebTV WinCE Windows

//mIRC// is currently one of the larger clients provided. mIRC has grown substantially with fame due to its free access to the IRC networks. Unfortunately this client is only provided to Windows related operating systems.

Mardam-Bey, Khaled. //mIRC (Introduction and News)//. Tjerk Vonck & mIRC Co. Ltd: 1995-2006. 

Oikarinen, Jarkko. //IRC History//. IRC.org: 2005. 