The

Internet Relay Chat

A short story of IRC

Oulo, a quiet village university in Bothniain Finland´s gulf, was the place of birth of what currently is a several nations and a million of servers´ internet service. It Was in 1988. Jarkko Oikarinen , a second half-yearly in electric engineering and technologic information's student, was assigned a summer work at the university informatic center.In a 1994 interview for the Stuart Harris' book "The IRC survival guide",where this introduction was take out, he said:

"It was one of the most usual summer works at he university, where it is supposed you had to learn new things and nobody expect you to do something important...

He was working in a BBS system program that I had started at the university (Oulo Box is still here...telnet tol-sun.oulo.fi and log in as box), and the goal was to develope a BBS software in a beter one. The chat system used in the last BBS was PMU(a multiuser chat), developed by Phil Jukka, who gave me several ideas and material during a long period of the IRC developement, like Hekki Putkonen, who was (and is) a worker of the Process of Information Science department,and who give me the job.

I learnt some programation of socket during the summer, of a double copy of a kind of BDSD$.31PC manual nets, which Risto Tynkkynen, who had just returned from a job in the United States, had and that I finally managed to get it in my hands. I don´t think I would realize the usefulness of these copys :)

Only a part of the new BBS remained half useful and it was the chat in part, called IRC... The summer work last with the autumn, but my developement of the IRC went on during a couple of years, holding back my degree for a year more or less... I consider it a well wasted time; I learnt so much in these years..."

IRC went abroad speedily to Tampere and Helsinki in the south of Finland, but some years passed by before it becomes international. Oikaren obtained a count in the legendary ai.ai.mit.edu machine ant he used it to make his ideas been known. As soon as possible the conection between servers in Boston and Oulu could be made, the first conection was made -then it was Denver and Oregon, the next stop is The World...

At the beginnings of the IRC, channels didn´t have evocative names as #love or #football. All channels were only numbers, and in those days, a group of fanatics still keep a channel called #42.

Oikarinen assume he had never have a sight of the IRC as a global chat when it was being developed. Naturally he is too much proud with the results-that a young engineer wouldn't be kind with his summer works to become a world-wide center of meeting- but he isn´t necesarily kind with the policy which have been grown around the IRC maintenance.

Oikarinen got through the IRC occasionally- in #42 usually- and his philosophical aproach is a leson for all IRC users, and he concentrates in the positive side:

" People knows each other around the world, first they meet through IRC, and after in the real life. I know too many people who have met throug the IRC and they get married and they live happily. I have met too many people from several countries, people who I wouldn't met without it.

I have attended some meetings about IRC, and I have always found it of interest to know the people who is writing in the other terminals, and I have learnt that the shock you obtain through the keyboard is almost always different to the real life. What is the right impression is clearly a question of opinions..."