Created at MIT, as part of Project Athena, Zephyr was designed as an instant messenger protocol and application-suite with a heavy Unix background. Using the "do one thing, do it well" philosophy of Unix, it was made up of several separate programs working together to make a complete messenging system. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a research and educational institution located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is a widely renowned leader in science and technology, as well as in many other fields, including management, economics, linguistics, political science, and philosophy. ... Project Athena was a joint project of MIT, Digital Equipment Corporation, and IBM. It was launched in 1983, and ran through June 30, 1991, eight years after it began. ... A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface An instant messenger is a client which allows instant text communication between two or more people through a network such as the Internet. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Unix-like. ... The Unix philosophy is a set of cultural norms and philosophical approaches to developing software based on the experience of leading developers of the Unix operating system. ...

Zephyr is still in use today at few university environments such as CMU, Iowa State, Stanford University, University of Maryland, College Park, and, of course, MIT. It has been largely replaced by modern and more popular instant messenger systems such as AIM or Jabber. A professor giving a lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ... Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. ... (The wind of freedom blows. ... University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (also known as UM, UMD, or UMCP) is a public university located in College Park, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. As the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland, the university is most often referred to as... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a research and educational institution located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is a world leader in science and technology, as well as in many other fields, including management, economics, linguistics, political science, and philosophy. ... A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface An instant messenger is a client which allows instant text communication between two or more people through a network such as the Internet. ... The acronym AIM may stand for a number of different things, depending on context and suffix: Abductory Inductive Mechanism Abrams Integrated Management Abridged Index Medicus Absorption Isotherm Measurement Accunet Information Manager (AT&T) Accuracy in Media (news media watchdog) Acquisition Information Management Action Item Master Active Inert Missile Ada Interactive... Jabber is an open, XML-based protocol for instant messaging and presence. ...

See also

• Comparison of instant messengers
• Gale, the Caltech equivalent of zephyr