this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2026
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OK, but we demand IRC instead of AOL-IM.
It’s period appropriate, should be fine
I want Pidgin or Trillian so I can talk to my friends on both MSN and Yahoo.
Also shoutouts to the brief period where everything was xmpp and Gmail could talk to Facebook and self-hosted.
Though if your friend is over and wants to check their msn, DO NOT LET THEM LOG IN TO YOUR TRILLIAN. It will merge your friends lists because Trillian followed a "one person many accounts" model, not a "many people each with many accounts" one.
oh fun. that is an oversight.
Both still exist:
https://trillian.im/
https://pidgin.im/
I think the problem is that all the other chat services that they used to connect to closed off their connection protocols. Can't serve a bunch of shitty advetisements if users aren't using your website or app.
Sure, and it's nice, but the network effect is a removed
Just one open source free platform would be fine. IRC with modern protocols for pics and video that can be viewed in the chat app of your choosing. Keep it simple, or add backgrounds. Mini chat boxes, or transparancy. Basic low resource use, or heavy, you decide, same open cross app platform.
uh oh
No, not ICQ
ICQ was pretty good. You could message offline people, which AOL/aim didn't support. Of course, this lead to a whole experience of waiting for your friend/crush to log on, but then not messaging them immediately... but then they log off and the opportunity passed.
It takes me a minute to remember my cell number, but I can rattle off my IQC number in a second. My ICQ fridge magnet was kept for decades through multiple moves
I remember i downloaded ICQ for my counter strike clan. That was the first i had ever heard of it, but i guess it had hit international popularity already . When I realized you just got a number, i was baffled that i couldnt search by name. Didnt take me long to memorize that number and make many online friends
Random chat made me some amazing friends that I kept in touch with for decades. Those friendships lasted longer than IQC did. Sadly, the Internet is a different place now.
Oh gosh I can still remember mine!
23496*** censored just in case.
sad ship horn noises
I loved ICQ! I'm sure some people thought it was a horrible idea to see people type in real time but to me it was peak messenging.
I loved ICQ too at the time, but I'm not giving up End-To-End encrypted messaging for copyright stealing ICQ.
But I'm totally okay to see ICQ brought back as a "skin" for the matrix-protocol. Something that looks, sounds and works like ICQ, but is based on modern communications technology.
I still know my ICQ number by heart, and a close friends too, who is lower than mine by about 50k. 140... and mine was 201...
Haven't used em in about 25 years.
But then I also still know my childhood phone number.
Give me back the golden era of Usenet!
Both. Pagers with LCD or eink only. No LED screens.
I think I have my Advisor Gold around here somewhere
OLED. Can still use modern advances in practical tech. Can still have open source, modern kernel linux, modern ram and low power 3nm chips. Just keep all the tech simple and clean of marketing and addiction. All the good, less of the bad.
Not sure that will work, ubiquitous video is still possible.
And Domino’s instead of Pizza Hut
How about a non-chain? Local pizza places still thrived in the 90s. That was one of the best parts of the 90s. Wal*Mart was slowly killing off mom-and-pop shops, but it hadn't finished yet, so there was a lot of variety and still a lot of craftsmanship in general.
Let's do both, gotta have options. and a Taco Bell
Dominos is the best national chain now, in the 90s not so much. But Pizza Hut has always been too oily.
Yahoo Messenger
IRC is still around and kicking. My friends and I use it all the time.
Maybe that's why I still use IRC. I was doing this subconsciously all along.
Yahoo or MSN.