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Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

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Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#71

Post by Maxious »

Karunamon wrote: post #57
linhat wrote: post #21

Sorry for the language, but WTF GOOGLE? Meebo has been around since forever (well, actually 2005) when it was only a web messenger and used by a LOT of people whenever you couldn't or wouldn't want to install a native messaging app, or messaging was blocked on your network. I actually know people that used Meebo exactly for that reason, no installation required and furthermore if you created yourself a Meebo account,…

Honestly, there are better web messengers out there. Off the very top of my head, there's IM+ and eBuddy. Hell, even Trillian has a web version now.

There's also Google Talk in Gmail/Google+ ;)

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#73

Post by pbreit »

omh wrote: post #20
ricardobeat wrote: post #8

Oh, come on. Fuck this. Can we ever trust a service to keep running for even a third of our lifetime?

The services that they're shutting down were all provided for free with no obvious source of significant revenue. If you were paying them and they were making a profit then you might have a better chance.

> If you were paying them and they were making a profit then you might have a better chance.

Not necessarily. A non-free service is unlikely to get enough traction to remain alive.

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#74

Post by pbreit »

bdunn wrote: post #19
ricardobeat wrote: post #8

Oh, come on. Fuck this. Can we ever trust a service to keep running for even a third of our lifetime?

This is why I tend to use paid services. The incentive to shut down services that make money is a lot less than those that hemhorrage cash.

Not necessarily. A non-free service is unlikely to get enough traction to remain in business. And I can't think of a single paid messaging client.

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#75

Post by jaysonelliot »

My first thought was "this is sad news for users of their great IM client, but at least it means no more Meebo Bar."

Then I read: NOTE: The Meebo Bar will continue to be available to site publishers and will see continued improvements and new features in the weeks and months ahead.

So, basically, the worst of both worlds.

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#76

Post by [deleted] »

Karunamon wrote: post #57
linhat wrote: post #21

Sorry for the language, but WTF GOOGLE? Meebo has been around since forever (well, actually 2005) when it was only a web messenger and used by a LOT of people whenever you couldn't or wouldn't want to install a native messaging app, or messaging was blocked on your network. I actually know people that used Meebo exactly for that reason, no installation required and furthermore if you created yourself a Meebo account,…

Honestly, there are better web messengers out there. Off the very top of my head, there's IM+ and eBuddy. Hell, even Trillian has a web version now.

[deleted]

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#77

Post by kylebrown »

Maxious wrote: post #71
Karunamon wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, there are better web messengers out there. Off the very top of my head, there's IM+ and eBuddy. Hell, even Trillian has a web version now.

There's also Google Talk in Gmail/Google+ ;)

Speaking of google, when the hell are they going to release a GChat app for iOS? The GMail web page on iOS doesn't have GChat, so I went searching for an app on the Apple App Store a while back and found one. I'm pretty sure it was just a UIWebView wrapper which sent a different user-agent to fetch the desktop version of GChat, and it wasn't long before it broke (I think google had changed the GChat URL).

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#78

Post by r4vik »

kylebrown wrote: post #77
Maxious wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also Google Talk in Gmail/Google+ ;)

Speaking of google, when the hell are they going to release a GChat app for iOS? The GMail web page on iOS doesn't have GChat, so I went searching for an app on the Apple App Store a while back and found one. I'm pretty sure it was just a UIWebView wrapper which sent a different user-agent to fetch the desktop version of GChat, and it wasn't long before it broke (I think google had changed the GChat URL).

it's just xmpp, just download an iOS XMPP client and you're all set. Same with FB chat.

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#79

Post by anonymoushn »

mtgx wrote: post #64
mrchess wrote: post #48

What is with all the hate? Meebo tried, tried again, they failed, so they exited. 1. Meebo Messenger was great, but was not pulling in nearly enough revenue 2. Meebo tried to pivot to an advertising bar for more revenue with no luck Understand that Google probably didn't buy Meebo with the intent of shutting its services. Meebo was most likely already failing (hence the 70MM overall raise and 100MM exit), and would h…

I'm actually surprised they chose Meebo over Ebuddy, which I've preferred over Meebo for many years (lately it has also become a bit too bloated, so I've been using imo.im). But maybe Google knows something I don't about the Meebo team. Only the most important and biggest tech companies we can expect to still "be alive" for more than a decade from now, maybe 2. Most of the others should disappear within a decade, and…

They bought the Meebo Bar, the team, or both. While other IM aggregators are better, the IM aggregator was not the point.

Re: Meebo discontinued: shutting down on July 11, 2012

#80

Post by anonymoushn »

omh wrote: post #20
ricardobeat wrote: post #8

Oh, come on. Fuck this. Can we ever trust a service to keep running for even a third of our lifetime?

The services that they're shutting down were all provided for free with no obvious source of significant revenue. If you were paying them and they were making a profit then you might have a better chance.

The entire IM client UI was one big ad. I'd be surprised if they couldn't make enough money to run the IM client by plastering a giant Best Buy elf across the screen, especially given that eBuddy makes its money in the same way.
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