I've been using a free version of irccloud.com and as far as web-based IRC clients go, it is fantastic. The paid plan is rather expensive though. $5/month for a

I've been using a free version of irccloud.com and as far as web-based IRC clients go, it is fantastic. The paid plan is rather expensive though. $5/month for access to an IRC client is a bit much. I have a DigitalOcean VM from which I connect through irssi; I access that using Chrome Secure Shell. That's my basic setup. And $5/month per user for the team plan would quickly add up! So irccloud for work would simply be too expensive; and that's just the client. Private IRC server (as a service) won't be cheap either. Or could run it myself but then I'd also have to maintain it myself. Slack hits the sweet spot. There's nothing to maintain, the barrier to entry for non-technical people is low. The apps are great and so is the web version. It evokes the feeling of IRC and adds convenience of instant messaging (e.g. @-mentions, notifications; irccloud does mentions and notifications too which makes it really good). So yeah, Slack is a cage, but a golden one. With a comfortable plush sofa and freshly brewed coffee. I can hang out there with friends and do some work...