RIP AIM: AOL Instant Messenger Dies in December (usatoday.com)

It's the end of an era: as of December 15, AOL's Instant Messenger will no longer exist. From a report: In a statement from Oath, the new entity formed under Verizon combining AOL with the recently-acquired Yahoo, the service will be discontinued. "AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed," said Michael Albers, VP of Communications Product at Oath. AIM was a staple of personal computers since first launching in 1997, serving as a precursor to popular apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. However, AIM couldn't make the seamless transition to mobile, where most users rely on instant messaging services. Users will be able to manually download any images or files on AIM before the service shuts down. However, users won't be able to export or save their Buddy List, the group of contacts available on AIM.

Comments

RIP AIM

[WankerWeasel]

'90s kid me sheds a tear.

Re:Holy crap...

[JohnFen]

I remember ICQ

I miss ICQ.

Multi-billion dollar free service

[ArhcAngel]

About the only people still using AIM are commodities traders. You heard that right. There are thousands of traders right now sending frantically typed emails to their IT department demanding they continue to support AIM. How do I know? I've gotten a few hundred of them. They don't care that the service is shutting down because they don't understand how these chat programs work. They just know that they broker million dollar deals over this free chat system. AOL lost the ability to monetize the system once third parties clients, which didn't display the ads AIM did, came out. I suspect, but have no evidence, some of the trading exchanges eventually started paying AOL to keep the service going since so many of their customers rely on it. There's been talk for years of moving to something else but the chicken and egg syndrome is a hard egg to crack. To switch, so do all of your contacts. That would require the industry and all the companies in it to switch simultaneously. When was the last time you saw any big company do anything swiftly and simultaneously with not one but thousands of other companies?