AIM will shut down after 20 years

Dead2009

Dead2009

Horror Movie Guru
Original Poster
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/6/16435690/aim-shutting-down-after-20-years-aol-instant-messenger

It’s a sad moment: AIM, AOL’s long-running instant messenger service that was core to many people’s first social experiences on the internet, will shut down once and for all on December 15th. AOL announced the shutdown today, acknowledging that people now communicate in new ways online, so AIM is no longer needed.

“AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed,” writes Michael Albers, communications products VP at Oath (the Verizon behemoth that consumed AOL).

AOL cut off access to AIM from third-party chat clients back in March, hinting at this eventual shutdown. It’s hard to imagine that many people are still using AIM, so that change, nor this upcoming shutdown, are likely to make a huge difference.

AIM was one of the first and most successful instant messengers, widely used in the late ‘90s and even throughout the 2000s. I was still using AIM to chat with my friends throughout college at the end of the decade, including to stay in touch with my (not-yet) significant other while she was studying abroad.

But with the proliferation of smartphones, everything has changed. Text messaging has taken over for desktop instant messaging apps, and increasingly, we’re seeing other social apps, like Snapchat and Instagram, take over for those in certain ways. For straight messaging, Facebook also makes things much easier, since you’re already connected to everyone you know and can just start up a chat without exchanging arcane things like screen names. In fact, Facebook has multiple billion-user messaging services at this point, Messenger and WhatsApp.

Other classic chat apps have shut down in recent years, too. MSN Messenger shut down in 2014, and Yahoo Messenger shut down last year (although Yahoo also launched a new messaging service under the same name). It was only a matter of time until AIM joined them, but there’s still some nostalgia in seeing it go.

With AIM on its way out the door, now’s your last chance to write that perfect away message.
Click to expand...

This is truly the end of an era.
 
tongaloosh

tongaloosh

Active Member
Not gonna lie, I'm a little bummed by this. Oh sure I have plenty of other (modern) ways of communicating with friends and family, but using AIM was a nice bit of "living nostalgia" for me, too. Ah well...
 
SeanWM48

SeanWM48

Well-Known Member
boy. AIM was the place to be after school at night back in the early 00s.

also was kinda sad to see the IMDB shut their forums down. now THAT was the end of an era.
 
ShoalFox

ShoalFox

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Even though I haven't used AIM regularly in around 6-7 years, I will miss it dearly when it's gone. It was one of the last remnants of Web 1.0 that I used. AIM had infinite times more characters than a vast majority of the bland instant messaging applications today. I used to browse AIM Expressions for hours on end just to find the perfect profile picture, wallpaper, smileys (not emojis!), and sound effect. Before I had Facebook, I would use the AIM Lifestream feature to keep up with what my friends were doing. My friends slowly stopped using it over the course of 2010-2011, and with barely anybody left, I was forced to move on. I still checked in every now and then just for the memories though my and my friends' lifestream posts were long gone.

This is just another step in AOL's long, painful demise.
 
tongaloosh

tongaloosh

Active Member
fox_198 said:
Even though I haven't used AIM regularly in around 6-7 years, I will miss it dearly when it's gone. It was one of the last remnants of Web 1.0 that I used. AIM had infinite times more characters than a vast majority of the bland instant messaging applications today. I used to browse AIM Expressions for hours on end just to find the perfect profile picture, wallpaper, smileys (not emojis!), and sound effect. Before I had Facebook, I would use the AIM Lifestream feature to keep up with what my friends were doing. My friends slowly stopped using it over the course of 2010-2011, and with barely anybody left, I was forced to move on. I still checked in every now and then just for the memories though my and my friends' lifestream posts were long gone.

This is just another step in AOL's long, painful demise.
Click to expand...
Oh man, I'd forgotten how much of AIM could be customized! I miss that, especially the sound effects :(
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom