[themadturk]

At a law office I worked in during the 90s, several of the secretaries and paralegals had AOL Instant Messenger installed on their machines for IM inside the office (and to/from people outside the office too, I'm sure). I dunno if it violated any licensing agreements, but it worked well and didn't cost the firm a penny.

[endemic]

Yeah, even as late as the early aughts I was using instant messaging for internal office communication.