Hi all,

How can I start our own instant messaging service (such as yahoo/msn/icq etc) for our local community? We have a webmail service (using hivemail for it) and now we want to start offering instant messaging as well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

I gave it quick look on the Internet not sure exactly what you want here. Do you want to get software that runs on your own server for this or would you like something like a service that offers you your own private messaging system? I search around for a bit online and found a few places that you may what to start with, the first is a Google search which I pulled a lot of information from and websites. The other seems to be a service that offers maybe what your looking for. Here a quote from the site:

But in any case this may help you get going in the right direction, hope this helps

Link 1 (Google Search)

Link 2 (JMessenger)

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If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

You may want to look into open source options such as GAIM. The source code is free to download. If you can modify the source code, or find someone who can, this may be a good option.

Use the existing program, modifying its "skins." So you have the "your community" look.

Then the next step would be to develope a "local" plugin. A plugin encoded such that it would be specific for either your community, or better yet, a plugin that asks users to enter a zip code before first use of the product. After the zip code is entered, it will allow all users within a certain zip code to see all other users in the area.

The other advantage to going this route, would be that your users probably already have some sort of instant messaging medium they use. GAIM will allow your users to import their existing accounts from MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AOL, etc.

I have to admit that I have yet to look at the source code for GAIM, so I can not help you beyond that, but if you do go that route, be sure to post a message in this forum when you get the project going, it would be a great addition to the GAIM software.