I'm quite young but I remember when I first got online, we would use "talk" for all instant messaging. Need to know who's online? Use finger. Need multiple chat windows? Open a new shell. Need to send a file? Use email. Need to alert all your buddies when you went online? "write" to all them. It had all the features of any modern IM app even to the point that each character showed up as you typed! We still don't have that in the "new" apps. Blah, gimme *nix or gimme death.

$will->code for @food or $$;