GroupChat v0.2 BETA
                          Kevin Wells 1997
                           kewells@vt.edu
                        All Rights Reserved
 
04/19/97

Features
--------

- 2 or more people can talk together in real time in one instance
  of the program

- Allows sending and receiving of private messages outside the regular 
  conversation, even when the user is not currently connected to a 
  GroupChat.

- Allows someone to join the GroupChat by requesting a chat with anyone
  currently in the GroupChat.



How to obtain the program & contact the author
----------------------------------------------
Visit my home page at http://www.vt.edu:10021/K/kewells/
My page will have instructions on how to obtain the program.  
This program only runs under Windows 95 & NT.

Legal issues
------------
This program is Freeware and may be freely copied and distributed.  The author 
reserves all rights to this program.  Please feel free to contact the 
author with any suggestions or improvements you have for the program.


Installation
------------
Copy this file to a directory of your choice and run it whenever you
want to.  It can be hidden in the tray so a good idea is to run this
program from your "Startup" program folder.

General Use
-----------
When the program loads for the very first time, it will set the
default settings for you.  These can be accessed at any time by
clicking on the "Default Settings" menu item under the View menu. You can
specify what parameters you would like to use on startup from this
dialog.  In order to chat with someone, choose the "Join a GroupChat"
menu choice and enter in the host address and the name, or alias,
you would like to use when talking.  To listen for any requests for
a GroupChat, you must not be connected to another GroupChat.  The
program will listen for requests when the "Wait for Chat Request"
option is checked.  You may send and receive messages at anytime,
however.  Be sure to make sure 'Allow Messages to be Left' is checked.


Revision History
----------------

v0.2 (BETA)	- First beta release (04/20/97)
                - User gets confirmation of sent messages
                - Away status of remote system is sent back in 
                  confirmation of message
                - Fixed redirection/server bug.  Server did not close
                  in time enough for redirection socket to open. Now
                  redirection socket is opened when the client socket
                  is connected.
                - Added "Away from computer".   Currently only sent back
                  with confirmation of message and when the user is in
                  server mode ("Waiting for chat requests").
                - Improved "Wait for chat request" logic.  The program
                  will automatically set the checkmark based on the last
                  menu choice of that item, including whether or not
                  "Wait for chat request" is invoked on startup.  This
                  makes the "Listen when not chatting" default setting
                  obsolete so it was taken out of the settings dialog.
                - Improved message dialog, only [ENTER] is needed (not
                  CTRL-ENTER anymore).  Fixed bug making max message size
                  less than 128 bytes.  Max size is around 450 bytes 
                  (characters) now.
                - User gets feedback via a dialog box as to the status of the 
                  connection when trying to chat with someone.                 
v0.15(ALPHA)    - First public release (04/13/97)
                - Messages left at other's machines can have [ENTER] in them
                  (use CTRL-ENTER) when leaving a msg
                - Menus restructured
                - Goes back into server mode when a chat request is 
                  refused if the default is to 'Listen for chat requests'
                - Does not accept incoming chat requests if the user is 
                  already chatting elsewhere
v0.1(ALPHA)	- First release (04/06/97)