LAN Messenger Bottom Line: An easy to use instant messaging system for Windows networks. Price: $14 per user for up to 10 users, price goes down at higher quantities. CEZEO software

March 14, 2001

Windows Instant Messaging
Without the Internet
-- Alan Zeichick

Long before America Online introduced its Instant Messenger service, Windows had one built in. Called WinPopup on Windows 95/98/Me and the Messenger service on Windows NT/2000, this messaging infrastructure was normally used for IT-oriented communications, with devices alerting "The printer is out of paper" or an administrator's notification "Log off, the file server's shutting down in five minutes." Beyond that, Windows' message service was too crude and hard to use to appeal to most users. It would also only communicate with PCs on the corporate local area network. That set the scene for AOL Instant Messenger's success. Now a company called CEZEO software has replaced the Messenger service and WinPopUp with an application called LanTalk XP. It's still limited to communicating with other users on your company's LAN - but otherwise, it's everything that AIM is -- and more.

I tested LanTalk XP 2.8 on several PCs running Windows 2000 and Windows 98. The installation process is very easy and only takes a few minutes.

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The user interface has the same features as instant message programs for AOL or MSN.

Once installed, LanTalk is easy to use. If someone sends you a message, a pop-up window displays the text. You can reply to that message just like replying to e-mail, including quoting back parts of the original message. You can send messages to multiple machines by selecting them from a list of Windows-based PCs on the network, or even send messages to ALL machines (use this with caution unless you're the network administrator). The latest version of the software, added the ability to create your own mailing lists, so you can exchange messages with a group of colleagues.

One important benefit of LanTalk over AOL Instant Messenger is that you don't have to use this software to be part of a messaging group. Because it's based on the Windows Messenger protocol, Windows NT/2000 users automatically can exchange messages with LanTalk users using the Messenger services. Windows 95/98/Me users can also do so if they launch the WinPopUp program included with Windows.

This is an excellent utility for organizations that wish to implement instant messaging within their LAN, without having to set up complex servers or use instant messaging systems from AOL or Microsoft. The features are good, and the price is low.

Download LanTalk XP