The AOL powered instant messaging app AIM which was launched back in 1997 and dominated the online char arena for a long time is about to go down forever after 20 years of its genesis.
“If you are a 90’s kid, there is a great chance that the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was a huge part of your life. You likely remember the CD, your first screen-name, your carefully curated away messages, and how you have organized your buddy lists,” said in a farewell post by Michael Albers, the vice president of communications product at Oath (a Verizon brand which overtook the AOL).
Earlier this week, the company mentioned that the AIM platform will be officially discontinued on Dec. 15, 2017. The Verge, which is a tech news website, notes that the company started cutting down AIM back in March itself by cutting off the access from third-party apps to the AIM.
In his statement, Alber stated that when new technologies forever changed the way of communication, the need for a desktop-only product like AIM is drastically reduced.
The statement also read that, “AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed”.
Back in its glory days, the platform was featured in what would go on to become the iconic pop culture landmarks like the “Sex and the City” and “You got Mail”
The latest smartphone has started the killing of several desktop chat apps, reports CNN. Conversations that once happened over AIM, quickly moved to mobile texting, WhatsApp, Facebook Messaging and other such chatting websites.
In fact, the past five years have seen the death of several desktop chat apps, including MSN Messenger in 2014 and Yahoo Messenger last year.
People from across the internet expressed their despair at the news, and also shared their screennames.
I'm so sad about @aim shutting down that I logged into my account.
No one is online. And they didn't save my away messages.
— Christian Heilman (@cgheilman) October 7, 2017
In honor of AIM shutting down, what was your first online chat room screen name? 😂 https://t.co/kcRUdW7Hqy
— Chris Maddern (@chrismaddern) October 6, 2017
