Apparently AOL just was awarded a patent (filed in 1997) on Instant Messaging software.  This is insanity.  "Chat" applications have been around as long as the Internet itself. [Managed Space]

Exactly. finger/talk anyone? I used these to determine if people were online and to then talk to them over a decade ago. Didn't the old pre-Internet AOL and Compuserve include network user chats too?