Foreword :

Unlike most of the prominent IM products available today, MaxxChat is NOT the result of a major corporate powerhouse with a multimillion-dollar annual budget. 

Maxx doesn't have a 65-man programming staff. It has ONE (part-time) programmer. Nor has it the advantage of ten years of product evolution. It's had eight  (8) months. 

It doesn't have an annual budget of millions of dollars, nor does it run those obnoxious banner ads. It operates on an annual budget of zero. Up to this point, it's been funded entirely out of my own pocket.

Despite the absence of a budget or a team of programmers, Maxx has made a very real difference in the IM community. It has prompted changes at AOL, MicroSoft, and Yahoo among others.

You can believe AIM, ICQ, MSM, and the others have noticed Maxx. In fact, I would dearly love to be a fly on the wall at some of their team meetings. (smile) "Let me get this straight... I have 65 of you bozos who claim to be the brightest and best this industry has to offer? We pay you guys a cumulative annual income of $25 million dollars a year? And yet... this ONE LITTLE GUY... in his SPARE time... from ARKANSAS of all places... with a budget of ZERO... with NO income from that product WHATsoEVER... is whipping our butts??"

In the simplest of terms, I write Maxx in my spare time because I ENJOY it.  =o)

I write it to prove that the LITTLE GUY - the average guy on the street - STILL has a chance on the internet to stand toe-to-toe and compete with the big boys. 

I write it to keep the industry leaders on their toes. I write it because I've noticed over the past five years that the major players in the IM and IRC worlds have become complacent - that they have made surprisingly few real enhancements. And healthy competition is just what they needed to prompt them to continue improving their products.

I write it because Maxx makes a difference far beyond the scope of Maxx itself.

Over the past seven months alone, Maxx has built a user community of over 2.8 million people. This doesn't happen by chance, but as the direct result of all my loyal friends who use my product referring it to their friends.

Up to this point, MaxxChat has HAD no advertising budget - despite the fact that I realise it needs one. You've seen no banner ads, no blatant commercialism, nothing of this nature. In fact, up to now Maxx has been FreeWare.

Unfortunately, Maxx' financial model is going to have to change. The number of daily downloads have now grown to a point where they are devouring more bandwidth than I can reasonably continue to afford out of my own pocket. 

I have no stockholders, no partners. Just me. And I'm NOT a doctor or lawyer, dentist or accountant. I'm an average guy, just like you - with a VERY average income.

In the simplest of terms, grim economic realities prevail. If I want to be able to continue offering Maxx, I have to be able to pay for the download bandwidth it uses. 

For this reason, Maxx now makes the move from  FreeWare...  to "Freeware-but-accepting-contributions". This copy of Maxx is fully operational, and is not crippled in any way.  Even so,  if you use Maxx and like it, your contribution would be MOST appreciated.

To the best of my knowledge, MaxxChat is the ONLY broad-spectrum IM platform on the market  still  written and funded by an individual. It stands proudly as the ONLY remaining case in which a viable IM product is available which is NOT the result of a megabuck corporate concern.

  If you like Maxx,  please help me to fund  its continuing development and growth. Your contribution to MaxxChat (suggested $15.00 - or whatEVER you can help with) will help to  pay  the bandwidth on Maxx' servers and keep   them online. In so doing, you help to keep the AOL's,  the MicroSoft's, the Yahoo!'s of the IM community on their toes, improving THEIR products as well. It's the very foundation upon which our system of private enterprise was built. 

Value for product, keeping competitors competitive.

Please send your contributions to :

J. Thomas Hunter
718 West Markham
Little Rock, AR 72201

And above all... THANK YOU for using Maxx!

- J. Thomas Hunter

MaxxChat product overview :
	
Maxx provides the following functions and features :

    o Full IRC Client
      o Create/operate/manage IRC channels of up to 1024 people
      o DCC and CTCP one-on-one chat
      o DCC File exchange
      o Image preview during DCC image downloads
      o Right-click programmable pop-up menus with icon support
      o Easily add IRC friends to BuddyList with just two clicks!

    o Additional IRC features not available elsewhere!
      o Exclusive IRC DCC Video Chat option (two-way streaming video chat!)

    o Fully Integrated AIM Client 
      o No need to run AIM
      o Double-click a friend in the BuddyList to open a private chat

    o Fully Integrated ICQ Client 
      o No need to run ICQ
      o Double-click a friend in the BuddyList to open a private chat

    o Consolidated BuddyList 
      o Tell when friends are online!
      o Seperate icons distinguish IRC/AIM/ICQ/Maxx users

    o News, Sports, and Stocks ticker 
      o Click the scrolling headline for the whole story!
      o Progressive NYSE composites financial graphics
      o Progressive NASDAQ composites financial graphic 

    o Internet TV
      o Top stories updated hourly
      o Music Videos, USA and World News, Tech News, and more!
      o Provide your OWN URL to view ANY Windows Media stream!

    o Internet Radio
      o Select from list, or provide your own!

    o Up-to-the-minute Weather reporting module
       o 5-day forecast
       o Dozens of satellite photos and maps for each area!

    o Fully Integrated MP3 and MPeg/AVI video player

    o Web Search facility

    o Links to Encyclopedia, Thesaurus, Dictionary, Maps, etc.

    o Fully (100%) skinnable interface - create your own unique
     look and feel! Trade your skinsets with your friends!

Online Help :

    Online help is available at www.maxxchat.com in the tutorials
    section.