[lars]

I like this idea, but here's a word of warning: ICQ actually had software that did this about a hundred years ago. It was a stand alone app you would download, and you could chat with people viewing whatever webpage you were on. And I remember running into another person exactly once on this service, and that was while visiting altavista.com (this was before google). And this was from a company that presumably had a pretty strong ability to push software out to users. This can end up being the kind of software thats useless unless its used by millions. I'm sure there are smart ways to overcome that problem though.

[ohashi]

I see a bigger problem of why would I want to chat with anyone just because they visited the same site? Strong communities probably already have a mechanism for that. If I want to talk to HNers I got to the IRC channel.

[brackin]

What's the IRC channel? I suppose this does show one flaw, if it isn't immediately obvious how to access a point of contact.

[Raphael]

He's likely referring to #startups on freenode. It's not official, but de facto.

[ohashi]

You are correct.

[twentysix]

This could be a good idea if its implemented similar to disqus but used for chatting.

[dlf]

+1 ...more importantly, it's probably the only way to beat the chicken/egg problem mentioned above.