In the Wake of MSN Chat Room Closures, VPChat Offers an Ad-Free, Feature Rich Alternative

VPChat provides ad-free, subscription based online chat. VPChat moderates its chatrooms and has made a strong commitment to keeping trouble makers out of the site. We believe we provide a valuable alternative to the market in the wake of MSN's recent chatroom closures.

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) October 1, 2003 - Microsoft
(MSFT)announced last week it has shut down its free, unmoderated chat rooms. Citing difficulties managing on line behavior and spam, the Microsoft Network(MSN)has drastically reduced its chat offerings and completely eliminated free chat services.

VPChat provides superior online chat free of troublemakers and advertising. VPChat is a subscription based, feature rich service that offers its members file sharing, multi-player games, web hosting, voice chat, and a rich graphical interface. VPChat moderates chat rooms and distinguishes its rooms as either family or adult oriented. Member accounts may be directed and limited to family chat rooms by account owners and parents.

To review VPChat's features and community, chatters are encouraged to download the VPChat client from www.vpchat.com. Once downloaded, guests will have free access to VPChat for a two-week trial period. Visitors may also review alternatives to MSN's defunct, chat services at www.download.com. Download.com offers visitors the opportunity to review chat services as well as to download, try and rate the features and performance of each available service. VPChat leads the pack in available features, value, and community.

"MSN's recent closures further affirm VPChat's mission. VPChat offers our members a quality chat experience. We've found that by providing an ad-free environment and moderated chat, our members can truly enjoy creating and sharing on line," stated Julie Gomoll, co-founder of VPChat.

"VPChat's scalable and robust system has allowed our members access to a secure and lively environment since 2001. We've built an on line community with room to grow. As MSN chatters look for a new chat service, we suggest they sign in for a free two-week trial at VPChat," stated Tom Lang, co-founder of VPChat.

About VPChat
Halsoft, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is the sole provider of VPChat. VPChat is a subscription based, ad-free chat service.

About the Founders

Julie Gomoll is the co-founder of Halsoft and VPChat. Prior to forming Halsoft, Ms. Gomoll founded Go Media, a desin andesignelopment firm, which was acquired by Excite.com in 1996. She served as Director of Product Development for Excite Communities and managed the Austin office. She's the co-founder of Austin Free-Net, an internationally recognized community computing non-profit organization.

Tom Lang is the co-founder of Halsoft and VPChat. Mr.Lang has 25 years of experience in the computer industry. Prior to VPChat, Mr. Lang served as the Principal Engineer/Scientist at Excite.com. He was in charge of design, development, and operation of chat and instant messaging systems. He has also held technical and management positions at IBM and Dell Computer, Inc.
###
Media Contact:
Genevieve Van Cleve
512-560-2780
genvc@halsoft.com