Module 2 - Chat Part 2

Part 2 - Chat Continued


So all the ICQ followers arranged to chat through Webct, on Sunday 4th Jan at 7pm. I ensured that i added everyone who posted there details as a friend and this was very easy to do. You enter in there number and ICQ prompts you if you would like to add them, you simply click yes and can leave amsg for them. 7pm came and i signed on to be greeted by BJ who had already set up a multi-chat room for us Net11's and took great leadership. There were 6 or so already joined ready to begin, everyone was so nice & welcoming and i was greeted with big hello's. We all waited a few minutes until most of us were in and we had about 15 Net11's eager to begin our journey!!!

We all introduced ourselves and then it was on, the chat began.. one after another everyone was talking, at times it was a bit hard to keep up with everyone's conversations as they were all running in the same multi-chat box, but i must say it was FUN!! We all had a laugh and got really into it! We spoke about NET11, what's fake space, what chat service we preferred etc

You wanna see??




Now to the serious side...

What i liked

I liked that each chat box that you carried out a chat in was consolidated into one big chat room, like internet explorer is now with the tabs. Very handy & doesn't take up all your toolbar space

ICQ now sends you msg's that pop up over the top of the toolbar icon to show that you have awaiting msg's & adds from friends. This is good because you don't need to check back to the main screen, you can see the little envolope role over the flower (ICQ symbol) icon.

You can now personalise your font, sizing & send over emoticons that are really animated. I think this is really important as it defines the person you are through written communication & gives you a reflection of people's personalities. For instance we had fellow NET11's write with huge font in bright colours and some with smaller font very squared. They would all tell a story i reckon.

You can now use a multi-person chat room which i don't think ICQ had back in the day. This is handy for meetings, friends, work & play, saves opening up a million chat boxes to tell everyone the same thing. Saves time & duplication.

ICQ now offers similar characteristics to MSN and is a fierce competitor for chat service providers. ICQ can be linked to your email as MSN does & provides you with the latest entertainment & news every time you login. Now what does MSN have that ICQ doesn't, ZILCH!!

The design and layout of ICQ is so easy & friendly to use. I would definitely use ICQ again for instant chat!

What i didn't like

The multi-person chat also has its negatives. The chat is dumped on screen so fast that i cannot keep up with it, with many people having multiple conversations in the one screen is difficult & i loose track, and i can type fast! The old fashion individual box for each chat is much more easy to communicate with if you're having separate conversations with each person

The other problem we have here is that ICQ isn't the most popular software to use for instant chat. Most of my friends are on MSN therefore it seems to be that all friends need to be on the same chat service otherwise you need to use multiple tools to stay in touch!

Conclusion

After using both MSN and ICQ i would have to say i would choose MSN simply because all my friends are on it & it is linked to my hotmail account which i use all the time. It's about convienance & SPEED at the end of the day. Right?!