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RIP, AOL Instant Messenger
We knew this day would come. One of the major parts of our formative years on the worldwide web -- we called it that back in the day -- will cease to be. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) came to a close a few hours ago. While we've already eulogized it, it doesn't make the moment any less bitter. Sunrise, sunset.
AIM 🔴 AFK 4EVA
For the better part of two decades, starting in the mid '90s, AIM (previously AOL Instant Messenger) was the way to communicate online. For a certain generation, which most of the Engadget staff happens to be a part of, it defined their youth. Those of us who experience high school and college in a world before Twitter, Facebook and, yes, Gmail, Instant Messenger was how we kept up with friends after class and well into the night. We made friends from across the globe, and a few of us even found love. But around 2010 AIM's popularity started to decline. Fast. Now the OG of instant messaging apps is being put out to pasture. On December 15th AIM will finally shut down. But first the Engadget staff wanted to give it a proper send off.
Here's how Microsoft tried to win the early instant messaging wars
The battle between modern chat services like LINE and WhatsApp is fierce, but it has nothing on the war between Microsoft and AOL (Engadget's parent company) at the turn of the century. Former Microsoft developer David Auerbach has revealed that his MSN Messenger team fought hard for compatibility with AOL Instant Messenger in the summer of 1999, all in the hopes of attracting some converts. At one point, Auerbach was in a daily struggle -- AOL would break MSN support by the morning, and he'd have a fix in place by the evening.
Experimental web app could bring AIM chat to iPhone
While the jury will of course be out until June 29th as to whether web-based chat apps like Meebo could be used on the iPhone to work around the lack of a true, built-in chat app, David Cann has developed an experimental web interface that might bring AIM to next week's highly-anticipated gadget. The service is up and running already, allowing users to log into AIM using Cann's page, but the adjective 'experimental' is used for a reason. First, it's suffering some rocky performance due, in part, to being dugg, but it's also based simply on some JavaScript that Cann is running with his own servers (while this might scare some privacy advocates, Cann promises users that he isn't harvesting any information or chats. Do with that what you will).Cann's iChat for iPhone service, as it's called, is also fairly limited in functionality, at least for now; this definitely isn't your Mac's iChat. Right now there are no groups, no buddy icons and opening more than 4 chats apparently is not recommended. Usage is also limited to only 10 minutes per session also, probably to help Cann sleep at night while he's tinkering with polishing this.Still, if at least some form of iChat is strongly desired or simply a necessity for some iPhone users, this iChat for iPhone could overcome the hurdle for at least a few potential customers. Of course, we're all expecting Apple to provide a more serious solution at some point, but as with so many other Apple-related offerings, we'll just have to play the waiting game.
Get your official BlackBerry IM clients now, if you dare
If you're ready to tax your poor, swollen thumbs a little more than they already are, well, good news: official instant messaging clients that support AIM, ICQ and Windows Live Messenger are seemingly ready to snatch from RIM's website right onto your beloved BlackBerry -- with some catches. It seems the necessary service books to get the clients working are missing from most carriers' BlackBerrys at the moment, and there's no word on exactly when they'll be appearing across the Berrysphere (we just made that term up, for the record). But hey, sounds promising, right? It seems there are some hacky hacks lying around (bless the RIM community!) to get these working on the 'Berry of your choice, but as always, proceed with extreme caution.[Via Boy Genius Report]
