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Instant Messaging 即时通讯
[ 2007-03-27 15:50 ]

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Instant Messaging from the office
When you meet someone for the first time, do you ask for their ASL? Do you LOL if they come out with something funny, and say CU L8er when you finish the conversation? If you know what I’m talking about, then you are probably already a user of Instant Messaging, or IM.

The idea behind IM is simple. A program on your computer tells you when a friend is online. You can then send a message to your friend, who can type a reply instantly. To do this, you need an IM program.

Worldwide, AIM, the Instant Messaging service provided by AOL, is by far the most popular. It has 195 million users who send about 1.6 billion messages every day. ICQ, which is owned by AOL, has about 140 million messengers, and MSN and Windows IM make up about 75 million users.

The advantage over e-mail is that with Instant Messaging you know you’re likely to get a reply. IM is already hugely popular in the USA, where people spend five times more time online than in Europe. However, IM is starting to take off in the UK, with over 3000 people signing up to MSN Messenger alone every day.

While the plus points of IM are obvious, there is one very important disadvantage: you can only contact someone on the same network as you. If your friend is using AIM, and you are using MSN, you cannot talk to each other. This makes IM less useful than it should be. Imagine if you couldn’t send an e-mail from hotmail to yahoo. However, things look like they’ll change soon.

In general, the future looks bright for IM. Lots of programs also allow you to have voice conversations, video conferencing – this means you can see the other person using a webcam – and also let you swap pictures, music and other files.

So, perhaps we’ll all soon be asking someone’s age, sex and location (ASL), and laughing out loud (LOL) when they say something funny. See you later! (CU L8er)


GLOSSARY 词汇表 (收听发音, 请单击英语单词) 

come out with
想出

talking about
谈论      
online
网上
      
worldwide
全球范围
billion
一亿
owned by
拥有  
make up
组成  
advantage
优势 
hugely
巨大地    
take off
起步;开始    

signing up
登记     

plus points
优点;好处    
obvious
明显的    
disadvantage
缺点;弊端
network
网络
the future looks bright
未来看好
    
video conferencing
视频会议 

swap
交换  

webcam
网眼;网络摄像机          
files
文件     
  


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