Windows Instant Messaging without the Internet
March 14, 2001
Long before America Online introduced its Instant Messenger service, Windows had one built in. Called WinPopup on Windows 95/98/Me and the Messenger service on Windows NT/2000, this messaging infrastructure was normally used for IT-oriented communications, with devices alerting "The printer is out of paper" or an administrator's notification "Log off, the file server's shutting down in five minutes." Beyond that, Windows' message service was too crude and hard to use to appeal to most users. It would also only communicate with PCs on the corporate local area network. That set the scene for AOL Instant Messenger's success. Now a company called CEZEO software has replaced the Messenger service and WinPopUp with an application called LanTalk Pro. It's still limited to communicating with other users on your company's LAN - but otherwise, it's everything that AIM is -- and more.
I tested LanTalk Pro 2.4.1 on several PCs running Windows 2000 and Windows 98. With Windows 98, the installation process is very easy and only takes a few minutes. There's an extra step with Windows 2000: You have to go into the Services control panel and stop and disable the Messenger service before LanTalk will work. You'll need administrator privileges to perform this function.
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Once installed, LanTalk is easy to use. If someone sends you a message, a pop-up window displays the text. You can reply to that message just like replying to e-mail, including quoting back parts of the original message. You can send messages to multiple machines by selecting them from a list of Windows-based PCs on the network, or even send messages to ALL machines (use this with caution unless you're the network administrator). The latest version of the software, 2.4.1, added the ability to create your own mailing lists, so you can exchange messages with a group of colleagues.
One important benefit of LanTalk over AOL Instant Messenger is that you don't have to use this software to be part of a messaging group. Because it's based on the Windows Messenger protocol, Windows NT/2000 users automatically can exchange messages with LanTalk users using the Messenger services. Windows 95/98/Me users can also do so if they launch the WinPopUp program included with Windows.
My only disappointment with LanTalk is that users are referred to by their computer's name, not by their login name. For example, my desktop PC's network ID is "power," my notebook is "laptop13" - and that's how LanTalk refers to me, rather than by my login name of azeichick. That's a limitation of the Windows Messenger service - but it's a nuisance nonetheless.
This is an excellent utility for organizations that wish to implement instant messaging within their LAN, without having to set up complex servers or use instant messaging systems from AOL or Microsoft. The features are good, and the price is low.