Virtual Places
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Virtual Places is a technology of the early '90s that was the first to bring live human presence to the World Wide Web, enriching information publishing, commercial enterprises, and virtual communities. See also Vpchat, a web service using Virtual Places technology.
[edit] Live presence on the Web
The client/server technology enabled every Web page with chat capabilities and the ability to be aware of who else is browsing that very page at the same time (a.k.a presence technology). Using this patented technology, Ubique created an innovative avatar-based client that presented "avatars" of people who were browsing the same pages at the same time, using the technology.
The software featured innovative concepts. One of them was a tour: Anyone could create a tour which presented itself as a bus icon floating on the browser. Other people could add their avatars onto the tour icon, create a group, and then browse the Web together, led by the driver.
Another feature was an auditorium, a chat mode with avatars that supported the conducting of large-scale events. People could find a seat and could watch a web page (the stage) with a live event on it. Such events took place in 1996–1997 by Global Network Navigator, an Internet service of AOL. The most popular event was the 50th birthday celebration of David Bowie, who was (virtually) on the stage with a moderator; some 400 avatars asked questions of the artist.
[edit] Milestones
Virtual Places was created by Ubique, an Israeli startup.
The first client version of Virtual Places was written within the code of Mosaic (the first browser) on a Unix station. This version integrated voice over IP that allowed people to talk with each other or to broadcast while browsing the same Web pages. The implementation anticipated similar products (ICQ, Skype), which came later and are very popular today. The voice capabilities were abandoned, as it was too early for the Internet bandwidth and for the computing and network infrastructure of home users in 1994. When Netscape came into the game, the Virtual Places client was re-implemented as a companion/add-on to the browser using standard API's.
Ziff-Davis Expositions produced a Virtual Trade Show on the Internet in conjunction with the NetWorld+Interop '95 trade show using the Virtual Places technology.
Virtual Places was a very popular chat in the early days of the Web. It was the main chat service of Excite that served 15,000 concurrent chatters at peak time, spread over hundreds of web pages all over the Web universe. After 12 years, this old horse is still in service by some providers and an inspiration to others like: VPChat, Voodoo Chat and Digital Space.
In 1995 AOL acquired Ubique, which was described by AOL as a client-server software architecture that humanizes the Internet's World Wide Web by allowing people to virtually meet and interact.
In 1998 IBM acquired Ubique from AOL and from Ubique's founders; Virtual Places presence and instant messaging components became part of Sametime technology, an IBM solution for corporate communication and collaboration.
Virtual Places is now run as Virtual Places Chat; a subscription-based chat service operated by Halsoft.
