Instant messaging (IM) conjures up images of bored teenagers using a software-based gossiping tool. Most IM programs are free, and few competing products can talk to one another, making skeptics ...

The job of a network administrator is a busy and demanding one made only harder when users install unauthorized software, as they’re prone to do. A new company, however, is working to make ...

Most any conversation about instant messaging inevitably turns to the lack of product interoperability that continues to exert a drag on enterprise adoption and bedevil those who see no choice but to ...

Despite the work full-service firms have put into Web-based client services, there's one function that's still missing -- the ability to chat in real time via text-based message screens. The term for ...

WASHINGTON -- Teenager Michelle Rome can't imagine life without instant messaging. Baby boomer Steve Wilson doesn't care that it even exists. They're part of an "instant messaging gap" between teens ...

FOSTER CITY, Calif. (AP) -- An instant message exchange might seem as fleeting as a phone call or face-to-face chat. But, like everything else on the Net, it can have much more staying power than ...

Consider this scenario: You have your whole staff assembled for a planning meeting. People have their laptops and Blackberries to take notes and respond to urgent e-mails. Two employees in the back of ...

Sure, instant messaging is fast and efficient. For many teenagers, it's also a great way to avoid those OMG moments -- that's "omigod" -- of mortifying face-to-face confrontations. More than four in ...