went thru a similar discussion about a month ago all you need is your old ICQ numbers and you can use a web based window ................. was weird seeing all those names again
it was simple and easy all you had to do was install ICQ on your comp and give you numbers to anyone you wanted to chat with ......... worked well in wars when you wanted to deal with other monarchs .
and IRC we had no dedicated utopian server if you wanted to contact some one you had to build a channel on a server and walk the person thru it.
and WEBTV people couldn't use it.