On Thursday 14 August 2003 07:52 pm, Ed Skinner wrote:
>      Thanks for all the comments. I am accumulating a complete list and
> will post it when the discussion slows.
>      Here are some follow-up questions I have.
>
>    1) Instant Messaging (Alan Dayley) - Are we talking AOL for the great
> majority of naive users? Do they expect to login to AOL (and does AOL
> support logging in from Linux -- I thought they had special Windows-only
> software?)

gaim is a very nice GNOME based IM application and supports various IM 
protocols.  Works great with AOL.  Go sign up and skip the software download.  
(I think they have a Linux client but I did not try it.)

I have also successfully used KIT, a KDE AOL IM client.  Not as nice as gaim 
but if you are a KDE person, it works fine.

No, you don't have to have an AOL account.  You sign up for a AIM account via 
the web.  Then, you put your user information in the IM client program.  
Tada, done.

Alan