IM isn't easy to solve, but it really is. All you need are * commitment * nice UI * nice add-on services Putting Skype's privacy and issues aside, it has pr

IM isn't easy to solve, but it really is. All you need are * commitment * nice UI * nice add-on services Putting Skype's privacy and issues aside, it has proven to be a very successful IM product for the past decade. Slack, HipChat are more geared toward developers / tech workers. IRC is probably one of the oldest and still widely used because of its simplicity (once you know how to use it, it's easy to use) If you merge all of them together, and have a real product team to support the product forward, it won't be hard. Of course, if your goal is to integrate with 20 other services, yeah, you will run out lucky hitting someone's walled garden.