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I don't think that's accurate. There were a bunch of silos in the past, too. People used to be on AIM, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Jabber and IRC, and there were others

I don't think that's accurate. There were a bunch of silos in the past, too. People used to be on AIM, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Jabber and IRC, and there were others. That's the reason chat apps like Adium and Trillian supporter multiple accounts. I had friends on all those networks, and nobody was on all of them. It was a mess back then, just as it is now, except now we have even more choices.

CydeWeys 9y ago
The difference was you'd fire up Pidgin and connect to all of those accounts simultaneously, at which point it really didn't matter which individual network any given contact was on. Now, in the smartphone era, there's nothing like that. There's a bunch of different completely siloed apps, and I can't talk to people all from one place.
- slacka 9y ago
  Yes for over a decade I was able used Gaim/Pidgin as my one stop instant messenger. In the early days, I used it for MSN,AIM, and ICQ. And when Google Talk took off that worked too. Could even talk to my coworkers in China over the QQ network. And when I joined a company that used Skype, there was a plugin for that too. Life was good. The consumer really has been the loser now that Apple, Google, and Facebook have walled off their messengers.
  - kakarot 9y ago
    I miss those Pidgin days so much... Even Facebook was rocking XMPP for a while. Things were so simple back then.
  - thallium205 9y ago
    Franz is the modern day equivalent of Trillian/Pidgin.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      Not really. That's just yet another instance of web browser, this time with chat-specific tab switching and - as I learned recently - a need to create yet another cloud account... In Pidgin, you actually had it all in one place, with the UX defined by Pidgin. That's another bad thing about current fragmentation. You have no way to unify the UX.
      - Freak_NL 9y ago
        That's by design of course. The client side software is where the interfacing with the user happens, and if your business model is 'first become huge and indispensable, than figure out a way to monetize', you need absolute control over what the user sees and how they interact with your service.
        dTal 9y ago
        Let's not beat around the bush - if you "need absolute control over what the user sees" so that you can "figure out a way to monetize", then you have already decided that you are monetizing with ads. That is the only possible reason to maintain iron control over the user's eyeballs. This business practice of pushing the product unsustainably in order to drive out the competition was rightly condemned when WalMart did it. I don't see a similar public backlash in the tech sphere these days.
  - stordoff 9y ago
    I remember setting up Trillian (later Pidgin) and setting up a bunch of accounts just in case I had a use for them - not sure I ever used AIM/ICQ, but I _could_. Now it's just more trouble than it's worth.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  Yeah but I doubt most Windows users use Pidgin. What happened back then ICQ, MSN and AIM dominated at different time and geographically, even though they co-existed since the 90s. Now, not so much.
  - adrianN 9y ago
    I used Trillian back then on Windows.
    - mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
      Same. Messengers used to just work, now we have a bunch of walked off shit with no intercommunication. "Are you on Slack / Discord / Skype / Telegram?" question is getting pretty annoying.
  - OkGoDoIt 9y ago
    I used Pidgin on Windows for years. Ah, the good old days...
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  I was a big fan of Meebo, personally. Since it was a web app, you could sign in once on any computer and all of your chat clients were there. ...Guess who bought it and killed it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meebo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meebo
  - thinkloop 9y ago
    the answer is... Google > In June 2012, Google acquired Meebo to merge the company's staff with the Google+ developers team.
  - Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
    Yes, it was really good. It pretty much Just Worked(tm), had a good UI for a web app, and was relatively lightweight (I remember using it even at crappy airport computers).
    - tobias3 9y ago
      It used libpurple to connect to the chat networks -- same as Pidgin :)
  - Macha 9y ago
    For a while, imo was meebo's successor, but they saw the writing on the wall for third party interoperability after Skype cut them off for the nth time and decided to focus on their own walled garden chat and Twitter service instead :(
  - rident 9y ago
    Yeah I really liked Meebo too
- ajmurmann 9y ago
  It also had a tiny footprint.
- JoBrad 9y ago
  You might be forgetting that AIM would change their settings randomly for a few years to prevent unofficial clients from working.
- notyourwork 9y ago
  This is the sad part about today. We lost user centricity with the dawn of mobile apps. The web (http) and internet were conduits for information and communication. Now the pipe is a dumb channel each companies territory. I miss pidgin where you had AIM, ICQ, IRC, Gtalk and whatever others. I also miss how companies are pushing their app instead of improving their mobile presence on the web.
craftyguy 9y ago
I'm amused that IRC is the only one of those you listed that is still alive and doing well.
- ekianjo 9y ago
  Openness and standards matter in the end.
  - craftyguy 9y ago
    I sure hope so!
- freeflight 9y ago
  Afaik ICQ is still somewhat popular in eastern Europe.
  - thinkloop 9y ago
    I don't actually remember why ICQ died, it was the best then there was MSN Messenger for some reason...?
    - dvanduzer 9y ago
      AOL bought them. Slow burn.
      - SyneRyder 9y ago
        ICQ is now owned by the Russian company behind Mail.RU. AOL sold it for $187.5 million, less than half what they paid for it: https://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/aol-sells-instant-messaging-service-icq-to-dst-for-187-5-million/ https://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/aol-sells-instant-messagin...
    - Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
      I think the main reason is because Windows XP included a basic MSN Messenger client enabled by default in 2001. Indeed, ICQ was vastly superior. In fact, in my opinion, many of its features (such as the discovery features) have not been equalled since them. It was quite traumatic to me when it was replaced with MSN Messenger.

CydeWeys 9y ago

The difference was you'd fire up Pidgin and connect to all of those accounts simultaneously, at which point it really didn't matter which individual network any given contact was on. Now, in the smartphone era, there's nothing like that. There's a bunch of different completely siloed apps, and I can't talk to people all from one place.

slacka 9y ago
Yes for over a decade I was able used Gaim/Pidgin as my one stop instant messenger. In the early days, I used it for MSN,AIM, and ICQ. And when Google Talk took off that worked too. Could even talk to my coworkers in China over the QQ network. And when I joined a company that used Skype, there was a plugin for that too. Life was good. The consumer really has been the loser now that Apple, Google, and Facebook have walled off their messengers.
- kakarot 9y ago
  I miss those Pidgin days so much... Even Facebook was rocking XMPP for a while. Things were so simple back then.
- thallium205 9y ago
  Franz is the modern day equivalent of Trillian/Pidgin.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Not really. That's just yet another instance of web browser, this time with chat-specific tab switching and - as I learned recently - a need to create yet another cloud account... In Pidgin, you actually had it all in one place, with the UX defined by Pidgin. That's another bad thing about current fragmentation. You have no way to unify the UX.
    - Freak_NL 9y ago
      That's by design of course. The client side software is where the interfacing with the user happens, and if your business model is 'first become huge and indispensable, than figure out a way to monetize', you need absolute control over what the user sees and how they interact with your service.
      - dTal 9y ago
        Let's not beat around the bush - if you "need absolute control over what the user sees" so that you can "figure out a way to monetize", then you have already decided that you are monetizing with ads. That is the only possible reason to maintain iron control over the user's eyeballs. This business practice of pushing the product unsustainably in order to drive out the competition was rightly condemned when WalMart did it. I don't see a similar public backlash in the tech sphere these days.
- stordoff 9y ago
  I remember setting up Trillian (later Pidgin) and setting up a bunch of accounts just in case I had a use for them - not sure I ever used AIM/ICQ, but I _could_. Now it's just more trouble than it's worth.
yeukhon 9y ago
Yeah but I doubt most Windows users use Pidgin. What happened back then ICQ, MSN and AIM dominated at different time and geographically, even though they co-existed since the 90s. Now, not so much.
- adrianN 9y ago
  I used Trillian back then on Windows.
  - mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
    Same. Messengers used to just work, now we have a bunch of walked off shit with no intercommunication. "Are you on Slack / Discord / Skype / Telegram?" question is getting pretty annoying.
- OkGoDoIt 9y ago
  I used Pidgin on Windows for years. Ah, the good old days...
ocdtrekkie 9y ago
I was a big fan of Meebo, personally. Since it was a web app, you could sign in once on any computer and all of your chat clients were there. ...Guess who bought it and killed it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meebo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meebo
- thinkloop 9y ago
  the answer is... Google > In June 2012, Google acquired Meebo to merge the company's staff with the Google+ developers team.
- Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
  Yes, it was really good. It pretty much Just Worked(tm), had a good UI for a web app, and was relatively lightweight (I remember using it even at crappy airport computers).
  - tobias3 9y ago
    It used libpurple to connect to the chat networks -- same as Pidgin :)
- Macha 9y ago
  For a while, imo was meebo's successor, but they saw the writing on the wall for third party interoperability after Skype cut them off for the nth time and decided to focus on their own walled garden chat and Twitter service instead :(
- rident 9y ago
  Yeah I really liked Meebo too
ajmurmann 9y ago
It also had a tiny footprint.
JoBrad 9y ago
You might be forgetting that AIM would change their settings randomly for a few years to prevent unofficial clients from working.
notyourwork 9y ago
This is the sad part about today. We lost user centricity with the dawn of mobile apps. The web (http) and internet were conduits for information and communication. Now the pipe is a dumb channel each companies territory. I miss pidgin where you had AIM, ICQ, IRC, Gtalk and whatever others. I also miss how companies are pushing their app instead of improving their mobile presence on the web.

craftyguy 9y ago

I'm amused that IRC is the only one of those you listed that is still alive and doing well.

ekianjo 9y ago
Openness and standards matter in the end.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  I sure hope so!
freeflight 9y ago
Afaik ICQ is still somewhat popular in eastern Europe.
- thinkloop 9y ago
  I don't actually remember why ICQ died, it was the best then there was MSN Messenger for some reason...?
  - dvanduzer 9y ago
    AOL bought them. Slow burn.
    - SyneRyder 9y ago
      ICQ is now owned by the Russian company behind Mail.RU. AOL sold it for $187.5 million, less than half what they paid for it: https://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/aol-sells-instant-messaging-service-icq-to-dst-for-187-5-million/ https://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/aol-sells-instant-messagin...
  - Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
    I think the main reason is because Windows XP included a basic MSN Messenger client enabled by default in 2001. Indeed, ICQ was vastly superior. In fact, in my opinion, many of its features (such as the discovery features) have not been equalled since them. It was quite traumatic to me when it was replaced with MSN Messenger.