IRC

Qchat is not the first application that permits several people to converse over the Internet in real time. There have been others. Among them, the most notable is Internet Relay Chat (IRC) protocol The IRC protocol was initially developed as a means for users on a BBS to chat amongst themselves. Since then it has evolved into a world wide network of Internet servers and clients. IRC uses a client-server implementation, with servers inter-connected in a spanning tree topology (Oikarinen). IRC servers can also work as stand-alone servers. Over the years, IRC has gained a lot of features such as multiple channels, file transfers, and many others. When Qchat was developed, we tried to use IRC as a basis for comparison. While we did not want to create yet another IRC clone, we endeavored to implement such features that we deemed useful and ignored those that we thought to be unnecessary. For instance, we implemented features like multiple channels, user filters, and nicknames, while we resolved against others, such as channel operators and having to memorize a number of archaic commands. As a result Qchat has the best of both worlds. It has a number of useful and power features, while at the same time it is very simple and is easy to learn and use.

EarthWeb

During the development cycle of Qchat, a new commercial Java chat application was released on the WWW. This application was developed by EarthWeb Inc. and is called EarthWeb Chat. Similar to Qchat, its client is also a Java applet. However, EarthWeb differs significantly from Qchat. While also providing multiple channel support, EarthWeb does not allow for multiple servers. EarthWeb only has one server running on EarthWeb's site that keeps track of all the channels and users. Qchat on the other hand allows individual operators to easily set up their own servers. This is can be beneficial for users that need to set up a chat forum behind a firewall, for instance. EarthWeb client's feature set is also somewhat different from Qchat's. Unlike Qchat, EarthWeb does not support user filtering and customized appearance; however it has other features that Qchat lacks, such as ability to send private messages and option to float the client in a separate window as opposed to viewing it inside a browser. One of the major disadvantages of EarthWeb, however, is the fact that it takes it an excruciatingly long time to load, averaging between 3 and 5 minutes over a fast LAN connection.

Other Chat Applications

Aside from IRC and EarthWeb, there is a number of other applications that allow people to talk to each other over the Internet. However, these other applications are of different types than the aforementioned ones; whether because they are for one-to-one chatting, like UNIX Talk, or are a part of some other program, such as MUD (Multiple User Dungeons).