Founding IRC
Written by Jarkko Oikarinen, founder of IRC.
I don't know if this helps much. I hope I remember things correctly and
apologise people whom I have left out and they had deserved to be in here.
I was working in the Department of Information Processing Science in
University of Oulu during summer'88. I guess they didn't have much for me
to do. I was administring the department's sun server, but it didn't
take all time. So I started doing a communications program, which was
meant to make OuluBox (a Public Access BBS running on host tolsun.oulu.fi,
administered by me) a little more usable. The purpose was to allow
USENET News-kind of discussion and groups there in addition to real time
discussions and other BBS related stuff.
Jyrki Kuoppala ([email protected]) had implemented rmsg program for sending
messages to people on other machines. It didn't have the channel concept
implemented (though it supported it), so it was mainly used for
person-to-person communications.
Another already existing simple multiuser chat program on OuluBox was
MUT (MultiUser Talk), it was written by Jukka Pihl ([email protected]).
That program has a bad habit of not working properly, so in order to
fix this, the first implemented thing of this BBS plan was IRC.
The birthday of IRC was in August 1988. The exact date is unknown,
at the end of the month anyways.
Bitnet Relay Chat was a good inspiration for IRC. When IRC started
occasionally having more than 10 users, I asked some friends of mine to
start running irc servers in south Finland, mainly in Tampere University
of Technology and Helsinki University of Technology. Some other
universities soon followed. Markku Jarvinen ([email protected]) improved
the irc client (there was only one at that time) to support some emacs
editing commands. At that time it was obvious that adding BBS like
functions to the program was not a good idea, it's better to have
one program for one purpose. So the BBS extension idea was given up
and just IRC stayed.
IRC was well spread in Finland. I contacted some friends of mine through
BITNET Relay and asked if they would try this program. Internet connections
did not yet work from Finland to other countries, so they could not
connect to the Finnish network (which I suppose was the reason for them not
being very enthusiastic about irc).
Internet connections to states started working (I don't anymore remember when).
I answered to some news articles where people asked for multiuser chat
programs. I didn't get replies.
At mit, there was the legendary ai.ai.mit.edu machine running ITS.
I got an account there and learned to use it a little bit. Enough to
know how to chat with people. From there I got the first IRC user outside
Scandinavia, Mike Jacobs used IRC through OuluBox (he did not have accounts
on any Unix machines).
Through ai.ai.mit.edu I got to know Vijay Subramaniam (I hope I spelled
that correctly :-). I had given IRC to him and not heard of him for some
time. Then I got mail messages from Jeff Trim (used to be
[email protected], University of Denver, current address unknown)
David Bleckmann ([email protected]) and Todd Ferguson
([email protected], Oregon State University).
Vijay had given IRC to them and they had started
ircd on their machines (orion.cair.du.edu and jacobcs.cs.orst.edu,
if I remember correctly) and wanted to connect to Finnish irc network.
After that some other people started running IRC, and the number
of servers grew quickly.
The first IRC server (and still running) was tolsun.oulu.fi
I have no idea of the latest one...
Interview Log with Jarkko Oikarinen
Undernet Public Relations Committee
Welcome to the Undernet Public Relations Committee's Live Events Interview Auditorium.
We have a very special guest tonight, Jarkko Oikarinen. Jarkko Oikarinen is known as
the creator of IRC as he developed and tested it in 1988. Jarkko has been kind enough
to take this time out of his busy schedule to be with us tonight. As most of you already
know, the Undernet Public Relations Interview Staff sent out many invitations for users
to send in their questions to be asked during the interview. The best and most appealing
25 questions have been selected carefully by the staff. We will ask one question, wait
for an answer from Jarkko, and then proceed with the next. We will now begin the interview
session. Sit back, relax, and get ready for an exciting hour.
(1) You haven't been seen or heard from much
in half a decade but have now decided to appear
in this online conference. Is there any specific
reason for the time chosen? Does it have anything
to do with Microsoft's intents to enter the IRC
scene? -- Donwulff
There is no specific reason for this time, except that during
1993-1996 I was working abroad (Sweden and France), not spending much
time on IRC or in Internet in general. I just happen to be a little bit
more around now than before.
(2) Did you come up with IRC just because you were
frustrated by the limitations of talk, or were
there other reasons? -- Kev
I believe that IRC came up because there was a clear need
for it. It was not to replace talk.. the purpose of talk is different.
The original purpose of IRC was more like to provide
similar features that existed on BITNET and DECNET, ie.
bitnet chat system and the DECNET phone.
(3) Why do you think people are attracted to IRC? -- Tsu
What makes IRC special is the sense of anonymity. The only things that
you often know of the other person, are those that you can conclude
from the discussions.
(4) When you created IRC, what was the maximum number of
users at the same time that you made allowance for? -- Run
It was not that well planned, but perhaps somewhere around 100 users.
(5) The protocol is now being used on networks with approximately 20,000
simultaneous connections. If you knew then what you know now, would you
have restructured ircd differently? -- Kev
Of course... the structure of the world wide web is much more
scalable than IRC. I believe IRC will integrate into the web.. or at least
the functionality of IRC, it has already started to happen. Having the IRC
channels being listed on web pages would allow each channel to have it's own
well routing small net.
(6) How long did it take originally to code the source for ircd? -- NudeDude
The first versions which were tested within Finland were coded in maybe 3-4
months, with help from several other people in Finland.
(7) A lot of clients are introducing features such as color and sound on a
client level that are not RFC-compliant. Do you think these sorts of commands
should be at server level? -- saad
No, I think they belong to the client level. There is no need for the
server to interpret the data people send to each other. There should, however,
be some well-defined standards for this so that the clients will be compatible
with each other.
(8) The original IRC RFC, RFC1459, relies on the rather questionable
authentication method of sending passwords in the clear. Knowing what
you know now, would you have done this differently by perhaps using
some form of cryptography? -- Kev
Not necessarily.. Naturally it is better to encrypt passwords, but if that
would have meant several manmonths more work, I would have skipped it.
In fact encrypting all irc messages, including conversations was considered
at some point. My reason for not doing it was the amount of work and knowledge
that is needed to implement good cryptography routines. -oo-
(9) Have you heard about the new Microsoft RFC? and if so, what do you
think of it? -- }{obbes
... Humm... that's a tricky question :-) I am not familiar with the
Microsoft RFC, so I do not have a strong opinion on that as such. I
have some thoughts about Internet standards, and they may or may not
apply to this... I believe that Internet standards should be designed
by a consortium of Internet users (or possibly by many companies), not
by any single company alone (ie. dictated). The problem with a company
making a standard usually is that nobody else will be able to conform
to the 'standard', thus limiting free trade and free competition... it
is a little like companies making the laws in internet instead of
representatives elected by people.. -o-
(10) IRC Operators nowadays face a major problem when banning users:
Dynamic IP numbers. They usually have to ban entire sites. What do
you think should be done to solve this problem for good? -- Net_Shark
I don't have any good solution on irc level, besides changing the complete
IRC server structure to have more loose connections, ie. similar to the web.
That way abusers can make less damage.
(11) Do you use IRC to chat online, and if so, how often? Which networks
do you like and why? What services do you think an IRC network should
offer; e.g. NickServ and Channel Services? -- }{obbes
I do not use IRC very much anymore. I am logged on quite a lot, but I
rarely engage in conversations, except with some old acquintances.
I do not prefer any network above others, except of course the 'original'
net (EFnet).. and this is just purely historical reasons, not because it
would be somehow better (nor worse) than others... I do not have a strong
opinion about services, e.g. NickServ, but I would prefer NickServ to exist.
It is not a solution to the nickname problem, (9-character nicknames for 5
billion people cannot be a solution) but perhaps a little better with than without -o-
(12) How do you feel now that nine years down the line, almost every
document on the history of the Internet mentions your name? -- Donwulff
Hum.. IRC is the accomplishment of all IRC users and developers during
the last 9 years. The small snowball of original IRC which I had the privilege
to create has grown this large because of all IRC users and developers...
thank you for that :-) -o-
(13) IRC is now being utilized by many educational facilities online,
not only for schools and universities to come online, but networks are
offering classes for new users to IRC. What is your opinion on IRC's
potential as a useful tool for educational purposes, and what do you
see in the future regarding the use of IRC as a "virtual classroom"? -- ExtraRed
In general I feel that teleconferences (including video and audio) are
better teaching tools than IRC. The throughput is much better when the
communication channel can include live gestures, tones of voice, etc.
IRC is better as a quick-paced discussion tool, where people throw
comments while simultaneusly working with something else.
There may be some smaller areas where IRC is best suited as an educational tool... -o-
(14) Are you still keeping up to date with the current developments?
If so, what is your opinion about the fact that there are now multiple
IRC protocols (i.e. EFnet/Undernet) that are growing further and further apart? -- Run
I am not following the latest developments. In my opinion it is good
for IRC that there are many networks. It is a wrong direction, if the
protocols grow apart so that a user does not familiarize him/herself
in another network and the IRC clients are no longer compatible within
different networks. -o-
(15) How do you feel about the changes to the original IRC code? -- MadCat
I think that all the people who have been helping IRC's success by improving
the code have been doing a very good work. Some more, some less, but everyone
has contributed. -o-
(16) Do you see any way of stabilizing the servers or somehow providing for
increased population? -- Goldenrod
Changing to a more web-like structure, ie. having many smaller irc networks,
which would be connected to each other by a loose structure, leading to a
situation where all servers do not need to be aware of each other, contrary
to current situation... -o-
(17) Do you think IRC will be around in 20 years? 10 years? 5 years? -- LGM
I think IRC will probably be around many more years, but it will evolve
and integrate with other software in the internet.. how much of the original
IRC is left at that point, I do not know. -o-
(18) Did you ever imagine IRC in addition to being a method for people to chat
in realtime would also become a place for flooders, stalkers, harassers, and
just generally disturbed people to congregate as well? -- AngelBaby
These kind of things are in the nature of people and I think it is inevitable
to some extent. IRC is just one media for these activities. -o-
(19) What is your opinion on the use of the DCC feature to distribute and
promote illegal activities such as child pornography and software piracy. -- BONK
I do not accept these illegal activities. However, I do not think IRC is to blame..
if there were no IRC, these activities would take place somewhere else. Any useful
tool can be used for good and bad. Don't shoot the messenger... -o-
(20) Did you ever imagine that IRC would grow to become a tool for fostering
friendships, relationships, and even act as a medium for people to find God? -- }{obbes
not really.. when I worked with it, I was developing a chat tool. It just turned
out that people found much deeper use for it than what it was originally meant for.. -o-
(21) Looking almost ten years back, what would you have done differently, if you
knew what you know now? What do you see as the future for IRC? -- Donwulff and Goldenrod
There are many things that could have been done, but the reality is that
implementing all nice things that came up would have taken incredible amount
of time and IRC would not exist now... as for the future, I mentioned that it will
likely merge with other internet software.
(22) If you could change one thing about how IRC has progressed since you founded
it, what would it be? -- cpw
I would have been wiser in taking into account the scalability problems of current
IRC, especially the nicknames would need to be taken care within the clients instead
of servers. The security problem in channels is another thing which could have been
better designed.
(23) What do you envision as the next step beyond IRC in network communications? -- NudeDude
It can already be seen in the VRLM worlds, with people being represented as avatars,
live audio and live video communications.. another step towards cyberspace.. -o-
(24) Will you be involved in future enhancements to the IRC protocol? -- Net_Shark
I do not think so.. right now I am working towards by PhD and it really consumes all
my time. I will be listening but not actively participating... -o-
(25) How has developing IRC changed your life? -- Tsu
It has opened my eyes to see and understand people from different cultures.
I have made many friends around the world, which I would not have made without IRC.
There are lots of people who have met through IRC and went married...
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