"Internet Advances"
...ease of use of MSN. This service can be very useful because it gives users the ability to communicate with friends, co-workers, and relatives instantly. Compared to MSN, e-mailing seems almost ancient because not everyone checks their e-mail every time they are online. E-mailing doesn’t actually provide the user with a sense of interactivity one may get with instant messaging. It might be a couple of days before someone can respond to an e-mail message. MSN automatically connects the user to their service every time an Internet connection is established. If information is needed quickly then it can be sent knowing that the next time someone connects to the Internet, it will be accessible. Also, MSN doesn’t limit the interactivity to only two people. Users can chat simultaneously with as many people as they can keep up with. Another reason why this service is very useful is message history and file transfer options. With the message history option users can check every conversation they’ve had with a particular person in case it contained any important information that needed to be saved. This prevents long and drawn out “e-mail tag” that seems to happen with everyone. E-mail tag is simply sending e-mails back and forth and not really getting anything accomplished. The file transfer option is very useful as well. In a normal e-mail file transfer, the user sending the file would have to wait for the file that is going to be sent to upload to a server computer. The receiving user checks their e-mail and then would have to wait for the file to download from that server computer. With MSN both users wait the exact same time because they are connected directly to each other. The file goes from one user’s computer to the receiving user’s computer instantaneously. This process saves time and sometimes people’s nerves. MSN wasn’t the very first company to create instant messaging software applications for Internet users. ICQ was the first to provide this service. Although there isn’t any real way to tell when the first versio...