[yborg]

>If IRC was so compelling then why didn't it take off Define 'take off'. It was quite popular in the 90s and early 00s, but not in comparison to say AIM or ICQ for example. But where are those two networks now ... and IRC is still there.

People seldom seem to acknowledge this, but software apps go through fads just like everything else. Slack won because it was the new hotness and it was able to get the network effect snowball. Especially in the beginning, small things matter a lot, and Slack was pretty polished right out of the box.

IRC's main issues in my opinion are a lack of integrated file/attachment handling (you can't just post that meme GIF in a channel without finding someplace to upload it first) and hideous clients. If there were more free clients like the Colloquy Mac client I still use even though it basically has been abandonware for almost a decade, I think IRC would have had an easier time getting traction.