irc

The "Internet Relay Chat" Server

Irc is a functional replacement for and improvement to talk(1). Talk is an old, primitive, atrocious, minimalist sort of keyboard/screen conversation tool, using a grotesque, machine-dependent protocol. Irc does everything talk does, but with a better protocol, allowing more than 2 users to talk at once, with access across the aggregate Internet, and providing a whole raft of other useful features.