>>OK... stupid question. I thought a Socket was just a special type of control. Or is it more complicated then that?
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>The socket protocol is the most difficult protocol to use. It is the lowiest level of Internet stuff which mean it's like programming in C. It gives you tremendous amound of power but not always easy to learn.
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>This is what I use for the Universal Thread Navigator and it the most difficult stuff was to establish a stable protocol.
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>This protocol is mostly used for application that need to have real time stuff like a connection to a server, chat, etc.

Wow Michel... you make it sound so scary :)
I do need to incorporate real-time connections to servers and unix boxes that dump data into my warehouse app so I guess I'm looking i the right direction. George's answer plus yours plus what my Networking guru here is telling me is starting to give me a better understanding of what I'm looking at with this Catalyst product.

Network guru says that from a hardware standpoint a Socket is what maps an IP address to a port number. So I'm guessing then a Socket Tool for software development is going to be both my protocal for a connection, and handle establishing connection from my app through the Winsock and either into an ftp session, or telnet into Unix box, or send error message through e-mail to Unix box users.... etc. Depending on what Tool I use. That makes sense? If it does make sense then thats exactly what I need.

=D) Rox, virtually thinking out loud again