> There is also XMPP (and has been for years) which does not suffer from many of IRCs shortcomings. In return, it suffers from its own shortcomings, mainly XML

> There is also XMPP (and has been for years) which does not suffer from many of IRCs shortcomings. In return, it suffers from its own shortcomings, mainly XML and second-system effect (leading to too much complexity & too many options). What we really need, I think, is exactly what Slack, Mattermost &c. give: persistent, multi-device, multi-group chat. I think that solving that problem in a nice, small, secure protocol (one that doesn't imply a browser-first way of doing things — and indeed, 'secure' probably prevents using a browser in the first place) is more than enough of a problem for someone to solve. Heck, even just the multi-device shared-identity problem is surprisingly difficult.