> This golden aged failed when it missed the boat to go mobile. There were plenty of mobile applications that supported multiple chat protocols. There might ev

> This golden aged failed when it missed the boat to go mobile. There were plenty of mobile applications that supported multiple chat protocols. There might even still be. The issue is proprietary protocols would often change breaking support -- I suspect intentionally breaking support for 3rd party client. Linux / Unix nerds running FOSS would be tolerant of that but I suspect your average smart phone user who might have spent 99c on the client would be less understanding.