Before instant messaging came into existence, there was a something called Internet Relay chat that redefined the “reach out and touch someone” concept and revolutionized global communication. Using an IRC client, anyone could participate in a chat session. Although it was first developed on a Sun platform, IRC clients today come in all flavors and for all operating systems environments. Even with the newer message exchanging programs such as America Online Instant Messaging (AIM), and Yahoo Messenger - Internet Relay Chat (IRC) continues to be the most frequently used chat system in the world.
The idea of online chat actually originated decades before IRC was born. In the 1960s, the very first real-time chat programs were developed in universities and research facilities on timesharing computers. The early chat programs allowed only person to person communication while connected to the same computer. Realizing the power that could be harnessed by this new technology, efforts were made to expand this new area of communication to include multiple users on different computers. In the 1970s, a program called Talk was created on the ARPANET network. Talk allowed a user to broadcast messages to multiple users logged onto the same network. This would eventually lead to the technology that would allow IRC to be created.
Internet Relay Chat was created by Finnish graduate student Jarkko Oikarinen. Oikarinen was working as the Sun server administrator at the University of Oulu in Finland. Oikarinen set about improving the user friendliness of the university’s bulletin board system (a.k.a. BBS), known as the OuluBox, by making it more like the USENET environment.
Oikarinen built his IRC on existing chat clients already in use. A person to person communication system called RMSG had been developed by another student named Jyrki Kuoppala. Kuoppala’s system relayed messages from one user to other users on other machines. A multi-user chat system had also been developed in the Finnish lab by Oulu graduate student Jurkko Phil. MultiUser Talk, MUT for short, was ridden with bugs and did not work properly. Oikarinen worked out the bugs in MUT, and thus came the birth of IRC. Modeled after the Bitnet Relay Chat system, the birth of IRC in August 1988 would bring to a realization the processes begun in the mid 1960s. The first IRC server to run the IRC client was tolson.oulu.fi at the University of Oulu.
As the use of IRC expanded beyond 10 users, Oikarinen convinced his companions at the Helsinki University of Technology and Tampere University of Technology to start IRC servers. IRC soon spread to other universities throughout Finland. Several users improved the existing IRC client. One particular user, named Marrku Jarvinen, added support for editing. At this point, Oikarinen decided to concentrate only on IRC, essentially abandoning the redesign of the BBS.
Internet Relay Chat was now mature and ready to expand. Oikarinen turned his interests towards the United States. He applied for and received an account from MIT, and recruited the first IRC user outside of Finland in Mike Jacobs. Oikarinen met other users through the MIT network. Vijay Subramaniam received the IRC client from Oikarinen, and in turn, passed it to Jeff Trim of the University of Denver and then to David Bleckmann and Todd Ferguson at Oregon State University. IRC servers were built in the states and the international connection was made. IRC spread across the Scandinavian continent, and eventually to universities worldwide. By 1989, IRC had 40 servers to serve the growing network of chatters. A second major version of the IRC client, ircII, was released in the same year.
As with the growth of any adolescent, IRC soon encountered its first semblances of rebellion. In 1990, two different factions established their own networks outside of IRC. A-Net (Anarchy Network) split from IRC and became an open network, meaning any user could obtain an account and chat unrestricted. This started to create further friction as unrestricted access evolved into network issues and colliding interests. Berkley-based EFNET split from IRC and established the first Q-lined (quarantined) network by limiting its network to authorized users. A-Net soon faded from existence as users flocked to EFNet. However, EFNet was not to last, as it died soon afterwards, leaving IRC as king once again. Not long into the future, TubNet was spun off from IRC, but it died in that same year. That left IRC as the sole survivor of the first series of spin-offs.
IRC received a burst in membership in 1991 with the advent of the Gulf War. Users logged in daily to obtain live results on the Gulf War. The popularity of IRC during this period resulted in a proliferation of users and, friction once again. UnderNet was born in 1992. UnderNet implemented the concept of timestamps. Within the UnderNet faction, DalNet arose in July 1994 to offer improved network service to its users. DalNet’s innovation was in allowing the use of longer nicknames. Another split from UnderNet occurred in 1996, with the creation of a separate IRC server in Australia, which became oz.org.
IRC continued to experience splits due to personality differences by its membership. This time, the split was down continental lines. IRCnet served the European clients, while EFNet served America. The differences lay mainly in the types of features each side wanted to implement. EFNet wanted to emphasize timestamps, while IRCnet wanted channel and nick delays. This split has continued to this day, and the user membership between the two factions remains roughly equal.
As long as IRC exists and grows technologically, newer factions will continue to evolve. As with any software, growth will improve the IRC client, and offer users improved and novel features. Through all the philosophical differences and development of newer and user-friendlier clients, IRC has remained firmly entrenched in the software wars, and will continue to draw and maintain its core base.
