As the name implies, instant messaging allows for immediate communication between computer users in real time. It is useful for a number of tasks, including:

• Get a quick answer to a short, simple question
• Confer with several people online simultaneously
• Send or receive a message while you are on the phone
• Converse over long distance without phone charges

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides three IM programs on workstations in Unity computer labs :

• Pidgin (Windows)
  Windows and Linux versions of Pidgin are also available as free downloads. You can configure it to work with several IM services simultaneously; e.g., AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!.
• iChat (Macintosh)
• AIM (Macintosh)

Other IM programs

• AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
• ICQ
• Jabber
• Messenger (a component of Windows Live)
• Yahoo! Messenger
• Adium X (Maxintosh OS X)