AIM is dead, long live AIM

[incidentallyscribble]

AIM has officially shut down, on December 15th, 2017.
AIM has ran since 1997, and it finally closed it's doors today.
The main reason that AIM shut down was the lack of usage. With much better options such as Skype, Discord, etc., there were hardly any people using it.
Fortunately, it's not over yet.
Services such as AIM Phoenix provide support for official AIM clients, allowing you to continue to have a genuine AIM experience, without the official AIM servers.
What were your memories of AIM?
AIM Phoenix
Source

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Wait, so i can still use my email right?

 

[RustInPeace]

AIM was crucial in my life because 10 years ago, my friend at the time shared music with me over AIM, turning me into a metalhead, as I never explored metal music before. I was all about rap at that time, it changed the course of history for me. Some heavy arguments in AIM, a 1 year loving relationship was maintained through AIM as it was a long distance affair. The relationship ended over AIM, so highs and lows for sure, but all memorable and affecting in my life. So, may AIM rest in peace.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Wait, so i can still use my email right?

Your (and my) email accounts are fine, since it's handled by AOL. Until THEY go under, we're good.

 

[Deleted User]

There's a thing for MSN messenger that makes it so you can connect to new, working servers instead of the old ones which are down. I never really used AIM but I hope something like that appears for it eventually as I knew some people (not as friends or even really acquaintances) who were still using AIM up until it died.

(for those who are interested in the service i was talking about)

 

[incidentallyscribble]

There's a thing for MSN messenger that makes it so you can connect to new, working servers instead of the old ones which are down. I never really used AIM but I hope something like that appears for it eventually as I knew some people (not as friends or even really acquaintances) who were still using AIM up until it died.

(for those who are interested in the service i was talking about)

Interesting. I didn't know about that and I'm glad it exists. I thought it was funny on the webpage Q&A you linked, one of the questions is "Why?" and the answer is "Why not?" Lol

 

[Deleted User]

Interesting. I didn't know about that and I'm glad it exists. I thought it was funny on the webpage Q&A you linked, one of the questions is "Why?" and the answer is "Why not?" Lol

I just noticed that you have a link to a service like that for AIM in your first post. I just skimmed over it lol, now I feel dumb

 

[incidentallyscribble]

I just noticed that you have a link to a service like that for AIM in your first post. I just skimmed over it lol, now I feel dumb

yeah, I wasn't quite sure what you meant lol

 

[Brian117]

Wonder how reliable this is actually going to be in the long run. Been an AIM user ever since AOL was a paid subscription to access the internet for Windows. So seeing it shut down is sad. But seeing this revival of it is awesome. Got it all set up and running with AIM 5.1 and man it sure is old school. However the server is currently down which makes me wonder how often it will go down in the future. It might not be worth using for constant use if the server goes down randomly. Thanks for the news about it though. Would've never known it existed.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Wonder how reliable this is actually going to be in the long run. Been an AIM user ever since AOL was a paid subscription to access the internet for Windows. So seeing it shut down is sad. But seeing this revival of it is awesome. Got it all set up and running with AIM 5.1 and man it sure is old school. However the server is currently down which makes me wonder how often it will go down in the future. It might not be worth using for constant use if the server goes down randomly. Thanks for the news about it though. Would've never known it existed.

You shouldn't put up with subpar servers or clients just for nostalgia's sake. AIM has been completely killed by texting and traditional social media.

 

[DinohScene]

Sometimes it's best to let old platforms die in peace.
The reason why they die is better alternatives come along.

20 years is a long time in the digital age.

 

[Brian117]

You shouldn't put up with subpar servers or clients just for nostalgia's sake. AIM has been completely killed by texting and traditional social media.

Yeah it's unfortunate. It was just always the go to client for my sister and I to communicate. We since moved onto Skype but thought giving this a try would be cool to see and experience. Hopefully the server being down is just being patched. There seems to be an archive of updates and most of them if not all, all mention patches to the server.

 

[H1B1Esquire]

If they re-released this commercial, AIM could've squeaked another decade.


Now, if only the things I (absolutely) hate would die a quiet death, I'd be happy.

 

[SG854]

I don't even use social media. Never have never will.

 

[Bladexdsl]

I don't even use social media. Never have never will.

your using it right now forums ARE a type of social media

 

[SG854]

your using it right now forums ARE a type of social media

Prove it. I need evidence and I need facts.



Joke=post #14

 

[FAST6191]

Never used AIM (this area was a MSN area, maybe yahoo if they were weird -- serious business the IM divisions back in the day) but impressive amount of time it hung in there.

your using it right now forums ARE a type of social media

I recall a thread a little while back wherein a similar discussion happened. Forums did not seem to align that well with what is "traditionally" called social media. I guess you could use them as a kind of direct and communal communication and updates on your life, however it does not seem to be the intention or the design and if anybody is doing such things it is likely as an end run around restrictions on such things.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

it does not seem to be the intention or the design

If only that stopped people from using the site as a blog, whether in the blog section or as it often turns out, outside.

 

[330]

I lived the whole MSN and AIM era and let me tell you how ass it was.

Sure, nostalgia is awesome and there are some things that have never been truly replaced by their replacements (Skype's bright white, unchangeable skin for example. Or custom emoticons), but there were issues with servers all the time. Even when Skype just started we had constant server issues. Messages that don't go through, failed sign-ins etc. You know that meme where you type a message but it fails, then another one but it fails, then you write "fuck you" and it's sent and the other person is mad at you? They all originated from them.

What about the time where Microsoft tried to ride the social media horse and MSN tried its worst to become Facebook? Everyone I knew moved to older MSN versions just to get off that awful oversized window.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

AIM was never really used here, everyone used MSN before eventually moving to Facebook. So I can't say I'll miss it.

There's a thing for MSN messenger that makes it so you can connect to new, working servers instead of the old ones which are down. I never really used AIM but I hope something like that appears for it eventually as I knew some people (not as friends or even really acquaintances) who were still using AIM up until it died.

(for those who are interested in the service i was talking about)

From what I heard, you don't even need a custom server for WLM. Since Windows Live is still alive, it was just merged with Skype, there's a way to patch WLM to work after the merge and still use the official servers. At least that's what I heard.

Sometimes it's best to let old platforms die in peace.
The reason why they die is better alternatives come along.

20 years is a long time in the digital age.

True. But MSN/WLM actually had some features that even modern clients are missing, like account-wide custom smileys (Discord has it but only if you pay, so that doesn't really count) and nudges. Nudges might be annoying but sometimes I wish they still existed so I could get the attention of a friend if they're not responding because they're watching videos or something.