Web-based chat

Who needs downloads? Not instant-messaging fans, apparently, according to Nielsen NetRatings. The online division of the legendary statistics-crunching company just released a study that tracks the fastest-growing instant-messaging software products from August 2006 to June 2007, and the results indicate that Web-based is the way to go. Meebo's Ajaxy prettiness(Credit: Meebo)The most rapidly growing IM client, according to the study, is Meebo, which launched just over a year ago. The fact that it's so new may be partially responsible for its rapid growth--354 percent from August 2006 to June 2007. ***

AOL announced Monday that it acquired Userplane, a developer of chat and instant-messaging software, in a move to enhance its community networking offerings. Los Angeles-based Userplane develops Web-based chat tools used by such companies as MySpace.com, Honda and Date.com. The company, which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL, has licensed its technology to more than 100,000 Web sites since its founding in 2001. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition marks AOL's latest move to expand its instant-messaging efforts. ***

Google's online spreadsheet is going into limited beta today. As of this writing, nobody I know has actually used with the service, however screenshots are up on Google's site, and we can tell a few things. For one, this is no competitor to Excel, either the current version or the Excel we'll see in Office 2007. The simple interface reminds me more of a very early Excel, or Lotus 1-2-3, than a modern spreadsheet. ***