“Immediacy” may be the first word that comes to mind when users describe the advantages of instant messaging systems. When properly applied, IM systems are fantastic.

Team members agree to meeting times, wrap out quickie questions, and snappy responses. Tech supporters broadcast complex subscriber probs to selected programming groups to pound out quick salvations for The Stricken waiting on the POT (Plain Old Telephone). Frantic managers can IM while Yet Another Motivational Speaker (YAMS) gropes for apt metaphors in a snoring auditorium.

That’s why most nets have an IM system, at least for internal use. It’s also why some giddy IMers think it would be a great replacement for Stodgy Old Email. Why not? For starters:

  • Chatter. The IM stream entices users to water-cooler talk, like “Polka dots make Alice look fat.” and “What’s that streak on George’s chair?” If you only had IM, such pithy chat would be archived with Revisions to Corporate Strategy for World Domination, rendering retrieval a tedious mess.
  • Timing. While you can turn off your IM client, some managers may be offended. On the other hand, email is not expected to be real-time. You can respond when time allows, with a great deal more deliberation.
  • Babble… as in “Tower of.” There are at least four major instant messaging protocols. Microsoft has MSN .NET Messenger Service, AOL’s Instant Messenger (AIM) deploys TOC and OSCAR (also used by ICQ). Yahoo! travels its own path with YMSG. Efforts are under way to mesh the protocols, but as of this writing, there is no generally agreed-on method for intercommunication. (And firewalling IM protocols, known and unknown, is another challenge.) Meanwhile, nearly all email systems enjoy each others’ company through the SMTP protocol.
  • Security. Much is made today of the soaring rate of attacks on IM systems. But a more important concern is its real-timeness. The very nature of instant messaging demands that I read what you typed within microseconds of the typing. That leaves my virus scanner nanoseconds to vet your output and protect my network. No matter how fast virus scanning gets, filters will always have more time to review email than instant messages.

In a world where any dimestore crook can wrap an off-the-shelf rootkit around a ready-made Trojan, converting thousands of instant messengers to zombies in the blink of an eye… That may be email’s biggest advantage of all.

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…anybody remember when “text messaging” meant datagram?