> It isn't clear what makes bundling a chat program into your SCM beneficial. ... you can just use regular URLs in any old chat app. You just answered your own

> It isn't clear what makes bundling a chat program into your SCM beneficial. ... you can just use regular URLs in any old chat app. You just answered your own question: trying to get any given group of people to use the same 3rd-party chat platform, especially one hosted by Big Megacorp (and aren't they all nowadays?), is like herding cats. Every developer on a fossil project already has an account they can use, not hosted by Big Megacorp, which they can chat over (provided the project admin permits it - they are not required to give devs chat access). i admit that i had several reservations when Richard proposed /chat on the fossil mailing list, but i'm a 100% convert, and now use it 24/7 on two projects and get tremendous value from it. (Disclaimer: i wrote the /chat front-end, so am inherently biased, but i'm biased towards it because it's useful, low/zero-maintenance, and low-friction, not because i've invested many hours into its development.)