MIrc (Internet Relay Chat) client - Research Proposal Example

In specific, this paper will discuss different features and aspects of one of the most popular internet relay chat clients, mIRC. An internet relay chat client was developed especially for Microsoft Windows by Khaled Mardam-Bey in the year 1995, (mIRC, 2008) which has been successful in establishing and proving its versatility and popularity by different features including real-time chat, file transfers, group discussions through channels, buddy lists, and a number of other features that will be discussed in this paper.

According to sources, mIRC is used by more than twenty million users in different parts of the globe, and is considered one of the top ten internet applications. Interestingly, letter ‘m’ in mIRC is still unknown despite of its popularity and success, whereas, IRC stands for internet relay chat in mIRC. (Miller, pp. 221) According to the creator of mIRC, a number of basic features required for an IRC client were lacking in WinIRC that is considered the first IRC client created for Microsoft Windows.

Thus, he felt a need for creating mIRC that received enormous appreciation from its competitors, as well as, users around the globe, even after introduction of a number of interactive real-time chat clients on the internet. One of the major causes of mIRC’s popularity and success is its inexpensive price, as it costs only $20.00 per mIRC application. (mIRC, 2008) In addition, it comes with a 30-day evaluation period that allows a user to interact and benefit from its various and all the features; whereas, a number of internet chat applications disable some functions during their evaluation period.

Interestingly, a user may use the application and benefit from it even after the evaluation period, which is considered another major cause of its popularity and success. According to studies, dominant scripting language of mIRC has played a vital role in the success of mIRC, as it allows the creation of