When it comes to sending an instant message, our options are a virtual alphabet soup. We have AOL, ICQ, MSN, IRC, SILC, and several others; in fact, a number of PC users have accounts on more than one network.

It's no longer necessary to log onto these different networks at the same time to catch up with everyone on your buddy list, because one program connects all those services. That's the idea behind Gaim, a project on which Sean Egan '05 is the lead developer.

Gaim users can simultaneously chat with people on networks such as AOL, Yahoo, and MSN. The project started as a way to allow Linux users to take advantage of instant messaging. Now, Gaim is available for Windows, a platform used by the vast majority of the computing world. You can find out more at http://gaim.sourceforge.net.

Egan shares his expertise in his book Open Source Messaging Application Development: Building and Extending Gaim (Apress, 2005). He jokes that we won't see it on the best seller list anytime soon; however, he's proud of the book, saying it helps build his name in the computer programming industry.

The Watson graduate is also making a name for himself at Google, where he landed a job, even though he doesn't have a graduate degree - a credential most Google employees possess.

"It's definitely not an easy place to get hired," Egan said. "They go for the absolute best."

At Google, Egan is working on -- you guessed it -- instant messaging; Google Talk is the company's take on instant messaging, and it works with Gaim. He's been at Google since September 2005, and is excited to contribute to one of the hottest companies in the industry.

"Everybody is a genius pretty much, and they really trust all the employees to make crucial decisions, where other companies would tell the employees what to do," Egan said. "Employees [here] figure out what they need to do. It's like working at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. It's that level of surrealty."

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