I started on IRC not too long after it was invented, and I saw, even in the terminal days, lots of "regular" people use it, once SLIP and PPP became popular, th

I started on IRC not too long after it was invented, and I saw, even in the terminal days, lots of "regular" people use it, once SLIP and PPP became popular, things like mIRC made it pretty easy for most people. Microsoft even made comic chat for it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Comic_Chat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Comic_Chat But open systems got overtaken by walled gardens.