The Next Face Of The World Wide Web

I'm assuming everyone who would be reading this knows what an IM is, and are familiar with a few protocols such as AOL IM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, etc. Most of you have probably seen or used a multi-protocol IM program such as Trillian or my personal choice Gaim which combine all the protocols I mentioned into one program and then some. This is really nice because it saves you the trouble and resources of having to have multiple programs running at once. Gaim even puts your IM's in the same window and gives them tabs, similar to how Firefox or Opera arrange multiple web pages in one browser. Along with the fact that official IM clients are usually full of adds, pop-ups and other stuff you don't want, there is no reason not to use a nice open-source multi client like Gaim.

Meebo is brand new and works much like one of these multi-clients and lets you sign on to AIM, Yahoo, MSN or ICQ, but it's got something different going on under the hood. Meebo is written in Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) making it entirely web browser based (no program to download). Browser based IM clients are nothing new and neither is JavaScript and XML. The way that the Ajax development technique allows JavaScript and XML to work together though is cutting edge and unlike anything that's been around before. Just go to the Meebo page, sign in to your IM account , start messing around and you will become aware of this right off the batt. The "alpha" status next to the name on the main page is pretty evident though, this being the very early stages of this "program" and type of development, so I don't expect you to drop your regular IM client in favor of Meebo.

Web programming languages and techniques are becoming more and more powerful in the advance toward Web 2.0. It is pretty accurately predicted by many that in the future your web browser will pretty much become your operating systems interface, with most programs stored on distant servers, transmitting usage data over super high speed connections to operate. The need for a user side computer is still going to be necessary, but its functions may largely start to change. I can't believe how fast computer technology and applications are evolving and changing. I'm very excited to see what's around the corner.

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