Internet Relay Chat was first started in August of 1988, when Jarkko Oikarinen, an employee of the Department of Information Processing Science at the University of Oulu, had some spare time on his hands and tried to figure out a means of communication based on BBS (Bulletin Board System). As we can see, this has outgrown all of his expectations. IRC really gained a lot of popularity (and public exposure) during the Gulf War. People would gather around their computers to hear the latest news updates -- often before any World News Headlines had hit the airwaves. Family members would gather around their computers and be able to keep in contact with loved ones. Once IRC got rolling, it simply gathered momentum until it became the huge success it is today.
This page provides help in various areas of IRC and the internet.
