[jjrh]

Why not XMPP though? Why hang onto IRC? I mean sure this is cool but it's client specific features with no standardisation of the protocol (correct me if i'm wrong).

If I have to install a special client (quassel) to access these features how is that any better than installing a XMPP client?

Only thing IRC has going for it is the existing userbase, most of who run clients that won't support these new features.

[kuschku]

Actually, all these features are being standardized into the IRC protocol. That's the good part.

And we've got all the developers of all the major IRCds and cloents together, working on these things. In contrast to XMPP, where support for an XEP between clients is spotty, and in contrast to Matrix, where a single dev team runs the server with ~50% of global users, builds the clients, and servers.

I agree that XMPP is a better protocol, but with the people we have, we can, long term, change the IRC protocol, too.

[jjrh]

Is it IRCv3? http://ircv3.net/ Is the plan to update RFC 2813 and RFC 1459?

Either way neat, and good luck. Like it or not, IRC is certainly going to be around for a long long time. It's going to be a long time before you get project devel/help channels to move elsewhere!