15.9 System status and communication with other users

The Harmony Status Browser, depicted in Figure 15.39, displays the current system status of the Hyper-G server Harmony is connected to. Status information includes the server name, up time, a performance index and a list of users currently connected to the server. By default, the status information is updated every 60 seconds, but this period can be changed by the user. The user' s own current session is marked in the list with an asterisk (for example, *728 kandrews(system) in the figure).

Figure 15.40: Sending messages between users in Harmony

It is possible to send arbitrary messages to one or more current users via the Hyper-G server. Messages are displayed on the user' s terminal by their own Hyper-G client. In Figure 15.40, three users are undertaking a three-way conference. Such conferences can involve any number of users logged on to the Hyper-G server from anywhere in the world. This powerful facility can be used by a server administrator to notify all connected users of a pending server shutdown, for example. It is also used to send certain system messages.