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Does anybody else miss MSN Live Messenger?
- Thread starter The Clark
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Yeah, spent lots and lots and lots of time chatting to friends on it on the weekends. Being able to see what people were listening to, the games on the Windows version, the group chats, the custom smilies, and changing your display name, the occasional spam popup (LOL 
), etc.
EDIT: And saving conversations! Man, I wish I still had some of those...
Good times.
At least IRC is still around.
), etc.EDIT: And saving conversations! Man, I wish I still had some of those...
Good times.
At least IRC is still around.
Still have my ICQ number memorized somehow despite the fact that I haven't used it in probably more than a decade.
AIM was my primary IM platform, utilizing Windows and Mac AIM Client (the Mac version was horrid), iChat, and Adium.
I did use MSN messenger with a few people back in the day. ICQ as well.
I miss the days of IM all together. You don't hear things like "what's your screenname" or "Go on AIM when you get home from school" anymore.
I did use MSN messenger with a few people back in the day. ICQ as well.
I miss the days of IM all together. You don't hear things like "what's your screenname" or "Go on AIM when you get home from school" anymore.
That's what I miss the most too. I can't remember how many people used to ask me what my MSN was. Those were the days. Back then I didn't have a Mac, and I was rockin' Windows XP.
I miss it too. Google chat is awful. I still use Yahoo by way of Trillian, but I suspect that's on its last legs. iMessage just can't do Yahoo, even though it "supports" it. Bleh.
It's interesting how popular and widespread IM got for a while and how almost equally as quickly it almost went extinct in the sense of what it used to be like (since Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp and the like are still fairly popular, just more in a mobile texting way essentially). Interesting how those established IM services just couldn't make that transition somehow.
Text Messages in my mind are directly responsible for the demise of IM. Unfortunately for all the computer-based IM services, the widespread smartphone market did not arise sooner, which would have enabled them to bridge themselves from computer to mobile devices. FaceBook Messanger didn't come out really unti smartphones became wide spread.
IM began to die around the time conventional cell phones fell into the younger generations- circa 2003-2005 where I grew up. Smart phones didn't become mainstream for the younger segment until at least 2010-2012. Had conventional cell phones never fallen into young people's hands and instead smartphones, we'd probably still see things like AIM in use.
I actually think AIM could have tried a Whatsapp attempt and brought users back through nostalgia as a free text alternative.
For any interested, the PowerPC community here has an ongoing AIM chat. Occasionally I fire up my PowerBook G4 and hop on the chat.
You guys should check out Emily Is Away, and independent game which certainly brought back memories for me.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/417860/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/417860/
I don't see how emails and IMs are comparable at all, it's apples to oranges. Phone conversations are annoying because they require a temporal agreement. I can send a text or IM and know that whoever I sent it to will see it soon, but doesn't have to consider it or reply to it immediately, rather they can do it at their earliest convenience. A phone call interrupts the other person no matter what, it demands their immediate attention. There is no way, that I know of, to find out what an incoming call is about without answering it and engaging the caller. I can ignore it of course, and maybe the other person will leave a voice mail, but maybe not. Either way, it's distracting every time.
How is that really different compared to emails? And can be simpler than a phone conversation or a sit down depending on what it is all about and what else you are doing. There's also a group aspect to it that is sometimes involved. Nothing really dumb or bad about it, just perhaps not some thing someone might prefer, as everyone has their own preferences.
You didn't necessarily know some people you chatted to IRL (in real life). That's the other thing that is so different now. There are of course things like message boards still around, but you don't see a lot of outside relationships anymore.
I continue to use IM because 10+ years ago I made friends with people on IRC. Some I've never met, and due to distance, never will meet. One in particular has become a very good friend (although we've never met IRL). We talk on IM every night while we watch the same tv shows together.
ah! chat rooms!......another thing from the internet's past.....spending time chatting with total strangers
In a sense that's kind of what we are doing in places like this, isn't it?
in a limited sense....boards like this one might lead to a reply or two going back and forth, but mostly it's a pretty limited exchange and very slow-motion compared to chat rooms.
I guess to me it's close to what the earlier web chat rooms were like in the early days of the internet going public, with the main difference basically being that most people were there at the same time rather than coming for a message or two and going until sometime later when they check back in for a bit again.
I used to. IM never died. People just switch platforms. One time its ICQ, then MSN, BBM, and now people use Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and Telegram.
I still remember when my friend first told me about ICQ and I was like "You mean if I log online at my house, and you log online at your house, I can see you that you are online?!? Thats amazing!"
Now what I really miss are internet chatrooms...
It was fun to log in something that was of your interest and chat away.
I still remember when my friend first told me about ICQ and I was like "You mean if I log online at my house, and you log online at your house, I can see you that you are online?!? Thats amazing!"
Now what I really miss are internet chatrooms...
It was fun to log in something that was of your interest and chat away.
ICQ's live chat, now that was really great (and really would still be one of the cooler features that even most of the subsequent IM services didn't offer).
Hahah, same here. 52859557. It's been close to 15 years since I've used ICQ. It was so cool and so much fun back in the day though!