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AIM will shut down after 20 years

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Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was sold to Mail.ru a long time ago. I think Mail.ru sold them a couple of years ago. They say they still have millions of users

I still keep it on my pidgin account list, though I can't recall actually sending a message on it for years.

Same here :) It's even worse, because I set it up with an XMPP gateway many years ago, and I don't even remember the password anymore :)

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s fascinating that you guys ended up choosing Slack. I’m surprised because it seems like with the infrastructure already setup, AOL could’ve built an internal enterprise MVP and got a real leg-up on the rest of the competition. Missed opportunity for sure.

Before Slack there were other examples in corporate chat solutions like Lync which had a good run. It's not like corporate messaging is new. Wonder why that was missed. AOL too consumer focused?

[deleted]

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#313

5 years ago, aol still used aim internally for everything that people use slack for today. Group chats, bots, notifications for builds, etc, etc. Then gradually individual teams picked up slack and within maybe 18 months, we went from 100% aim to a gigantic corporate slack team. That was the end of AIM, I think. Aol and yahoo both use gmail internally so I suspect they’re going to shitcan their email services eventua…

No way. Yahoo uses gmail internally? Yahoo is still prominent enough in email, it would be pretty crazy for them to shut down their email service. I assumed aol would shift their email to yahoo. Or some sort of merger with Yahoo being the lead.

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#314
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s fascinating that you guys ended up choosing Slack. I’m surprised because it seems like with the infrastructure already setup, AOL could’ve built an internal enterprise MVP and got a real leg-up on the rest of the competition. Missed opportunity for sure.

Or gone with a free alternative like Mattermost & added the necessary bells & whistles. Mattermost today is extremely competitive with Slack.

Mattermost idealistically might be competitive with Slack, but right now it isn't. Most people who only care about usability and features will choose Slack over Mattermost. Just use the apps for a couple days and the differences and issues between them are clear as day.

I'd like Mattermost to succeed. But it needs to do a lot of catching up still.

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#315
post #298

My first website was dedicated to AIM. That was 14 years ago in 2004. I was in middle school. I got into development (vb5/vb6) so I could make things to boot people off AIM. I learned web development so I could make cool things happen in my profile with buddy4u.com. I learned Photoshop so I could create AIM buddy icons. I wrote many a love story in my profile. This hurts.

Relevant: http://articles.marco.org/44

I used to see people running these all over AOL chatrooms. I didn't see it on AIM, but I'm not surprised it carried over.

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#316

5 years ago, aol still used aim internally for everything that people use slack for today. Group chats, bots, notifications for builds, etc, etc. Then gradually individual teams picked up slack and within maybe 18 months, we went from 100% aim to a gigantic corporate slack team. That was the end of AIM, I think. Aol and yahoo both use gmail internally so I suspect they’re going to shitcan their email services eventua…

You just assume that AIM would be better as a "social network".. but not everyone wants that, some people just want simple chat. In fact many people think google's failure with gchat was trying to force people to use things they didn't want when all they really wanted was simple chat.

Aol was used as a simple social network. Checking people's statuses was common practice back in the day. As was changing it. Same with your away message. Also being able to see idled people was helpful. None of these features are available or used much in modern mobile messaging. Not sure if WhatsApp status messages (not their story feature) is actively used.

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#317

Pity. I spent many, many hours on AIM in my youth. Cultivated friendships, relationships, and many other one-off contacts. I suppose it has been made obsolete now by Facebook and other social media apps, but those were never truly replacements for AIM in my mind, as most of them have eschewed the venerable screen name in favor of your real name or e-mail address. And for the vast majority of people I talk to online,…

Out of the western networks, Kik, Telegram, and Viber still do usernames. Kik, notably, still has a fairly laissez-faire culture and a userbase that skews young, which makes it the most comparable modern network to the feel of something like AIM in its heyday; with the difference that so many people having overlapping identities, discourse is now fragmented between various platforms for reasons more than just network…

How popular is Kik really? Snapchat for all its hype has had growth slowed like crazy and is in the lower hundred millions.

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#318
post #240
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I recall correctly, six digit icq id's were selling for thousands of dollars.

Nah, $6+ if you buy in the right place. $300+ for 5-digits http://www.myuin.com

I assume they were talking about in the past. Like a decade ago or earlier. Though 6 digit ones selling for thousands still seems a bit much unless they were appealing rounded numbers. 5 digits for thousands of dollars was def a thing in the mid 00s.

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not convoluted, just hidden. After you mention it I searched and it takes two clicks to get to. What it doesn't do is let you snoop. You are either active and see everyone who is active, or not active and don't see anyone who is active, a weird type of "fairness" that doesn't really make sense. All these social networks are definitely trying to use symmetry to push for engagement, which is not always the goal f…

I think a large part on why Truecaller is so successful is because of the same model. It is slightly worse, as by default a user is visible.

I'm not doubting it, but in what way is Truecaller so successful? Never heard of it.

Re: AIM will shut down after 20 years

#320
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With Facebook Messenger, everyone who has the app is always "online." Not exactly, FBM lets you differentiate between people who are "active", as in they are currently using FBM, vs. "last seen x hours ago." The difference from AIM is that being active vs. inactive does not necessarily correspond to whether or not you are up for an engaged conversation, and also that you don't directly control your status since it'…

It is not convoluted, just hidden. After you mention it I searched and it takes two clicks to get to. What it doesn't do is let you snoop. You are either active and see everyone who is active, or not active and don't see anyone who is active, a weird type of "fairness" that doesn't really make sense. All these social networks are definitely trying to use symmetry to push for engagement, which is not always the goal f…

Why do you find the "fairness" not making sense? Seems to make sense to me. Telegram has the same feature for showing how many hours ago someone was active.
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