Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't IRC born long before any of these IMs? IMHO, AOL was only the first in a long series of companys that pilfered IRC and repackaged it as a new wiz-bang invention. In fact, I remember happily communing with friends via IRC when I learned of the newly announced AOL "Instant Messenger" feature. My first thought was "Huh? AOL's finally discovered IRC? How nice of them to catch up with the rest of us!"