I am going to be developing a chat program (well kinda) but anyway I want it to be able to be used on different platforms. Winsock for windows provides tcp/ip, but I want to expand from windows later on, so really it does not matter what api i use for whatever system right? just so it supports itself (in the network function calls) tcp/ip? Also I want to have a server set up for a server/client setup for this program, whats the best way to do this withoug spending a cajillion dollars. Do virtual web hosting servers work because the clients will need access to using winsock network functions to send data to that server which will send data to the other client that person is talking to with the chat program. Sorry not very good when it comes to networking. Thanks for your input, Scott CFE