It was three years ago today that Jon McKenzie and I first conceived of creating a new instant messaging system, although the name BitWise wasn't created until a few weeks later. During its first weeks, BitWise was simply called Chat Client and Chat Server.
True confessions: Jon actually worked most of the next day, unbeknownst to me, coding the proof-of-concept server in Perl. I had no idea how eager Jon was to start, but it was his initial enthusiasm that made me believe that we could really do it. The idea went from being impossible to just being really difficult--but that was enough.
Fortunately for everyone, the client and server both quickly evolved from those very early Perl beginnings. We still have some of those early Perl utilities lying around though... reminders of days long gone when I used to prop my feet up on the server. I miss good old Nexus, now retired and sitting in my basement.
We've come a long way, and there's still lots of exciting things in store. The new web site, BitWise version 1.0.4, and then evaluation of some major new features, like calendars, or emoticons. Can we claim the title of "longest running IM without emoticons?" Seems a shame to lose the title...
Happy Birthday, BitWise.
Congragulations, happy birthday, and thanks for ur efforts !