[JDEV] OT: AOL Patents IM (Patent creates IM wrinkle )
Pete Chown
1 at 234.cx
Wed Dec 18 09:44:43 CST 2002
I used a system in 1990 (on MVS of all things) that provided this type
of feature. When you logged on to the mainframe it displayed a "buddy
list" showing who of your friends was online. You could also ask for
the list to be repeated later if you wanted. It was of course updated
to reflect anyone who had logged on or off in the meantime.
If you saw someone that you wanted to talk to, you then used a separate
command to send them a message. There was also a command that would
display profile information about the user.
The mainframe that this ran on has long since been scrapped, but if
anyone gets sued over this patent I should still be able to find the
people concerned in running it.
--
Pete
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