RickInOz

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk

An insightful quotation by Stephen Hawking, originally screened as a BT advert, but also used by Pink Floyd.

Don’t worry this isn’t going to be a political diatribe or one of my rants. Instead I was thinking it would be nice to chat to all of you, without profiting a telecoms company. One method would be to invest in VOIP by signing up with a company like Skype, but that would mean all of you would have to pay for the service too.

Instead there are a couple of no-cost options. The first would be for me to install some software on this site that would allow us to “chat” by typing messages into a webpage. Obviously you can’t speak, but have to write messages instead, however it does have the ability to create a “chat-room” i.e: allow many of us to conference in real-time. I could put something on this page that would let you know if anyone else was online, and then you could also enter the chatroom and talk.

A second option is use Instant Messaging. This would require you to download some software and sign up for one of the many free services. If you already have an AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo email account then you can download the respective software I’ve linked to and use your email address to sign up. If you don’t have one of those email accounts then consider either getting one or signing up with a free service like Jabber or ICQ. When you get your identity / username, let me know and I can add you to my “buddy list”. Then when we are online simultaneously we will both be notified and can choose to talk.

Please let me know if any of you are interested in either of these options. They may sound complicated but are actually very simple. I won’t go to any trouble unless there is sufficient interest, however it would be nice to talk with you, even if it is in a textual form. I can provide further details for technophobes if necessary.