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Discontinuing support for all third-party messaging networks

40 points| Navarr | 12 years ago |blog.imo.im | reply

48 comments

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[+] 51Cards|12 years ago|reply
I have never used this App but if I did I would also be uninstalling it right now. Chat/messaging apps are not primarily about features, they are about connections. They are social. I don't care if your chat app is awesome if none of my friends are on it.

I have been a long term supporter of Trillian for just that reason, cross platform support. It's quirky at times but it gives me as many protocols as possible in one place, and a combined list of all my friends through one interface. It also syncs across all my devices (multiple PC's and Android tablets/phones) As long as they keep that up they maximize the social connections... and my loyalty.

[+] cvos|12 years ago|reply
They likely want to become a standalone messaging app in the hopes of an acquisition as messaging apps seem to be mimicking the Search Engine wars of 1999.

Does anyone have recommendations for a good multi chat app replacement besides trillian?

[+] ranndino|12 years ago|reply
Couldn't have said it better myself. As soon as imo drops support for other messengers my connections are gonna go from over a 100 to 4. And I'm powerless to fix this.
[+] donniezazen|12 years ago|reply
IM has simply become a mess with isolated protocols.
[+] Navarr|12 years ago|reply
What's really shitty, in my opinion, is that they're giving 3 days notice, and only 7 days to download your chat logs for those networks. (For those unaware, retrieving your chat logs has been a feature of IMO for a very, very long time).
[+] shahar2k|12 years ago|reply
After Meebo, and now this, as well as their dropped support for skype, and extreme pluralization of all IM / chat mediums, and dropping of most generally accessible protocols... the web really seems to be splitting into apps, and it's a sad frustrating reality.
[+] mikeflynn|12 years ago|reply
...and removed.

It wasn't all that long ago when we fought this message interop battle the firsst time with AOL, MSN and Yahoo! Messenger. Now the problem is back in spades: Imo, Hangouts, iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook, ...

[+] res0nat0r|12 years ago|reply
IMO is pretty much making itself irrelevant with this move. I barely used it, mainly to get Google IM's on my iphone, with this move...it's now uninstalled.
[+] nobeard|12 years ago|reply
The world does not need another damn stand-alone messaging service. I already have to use enough of them, which is why I started using imo.im in the first place! It was the only place I needed to go to be able to communicate across all my contacts, and it being a web app made it so much easier. Now that they don't service this need, I have no reason to continue using them.

Time to close the account.

[+] chch|12 years ago|reply
As soon as they made having an imo.im login mandatory, I had a sinking feeling it was the beginning of the end, and jumped ship (to the terrible compromise of AIM Express[0]). I had preferred Meebo for my third-party web messaging for a few years (handy in computer labs where you don't own the box!), but the Google acquisition took that away, so I'd switched to imo. Now they're both kaput.

A sad day for multiprotocol web messaging.

[0] http://www.aim.com/products/express/

[+] bhaile|12 years ago|reply
Bummer. Used them for several years with the web client. Used Android client off and on at various times. As others commented, chat history across all services was great and one of their strengths.

Switching to Adium as I don't know anyone using imo.im's network. 5 years later, all the chat services will realize "We need to find a way to talk across services". Either XMPP or some other standard will become commonplace. Seems cyclical.

[+] twodayslate|12 years ago|reply
Third party messaging was the only reason I used imo
[+] motyar|12 years ago|reply
I stopped using IMO when Skype stopped supporting them.
[+] nbody|12 years ago|reply
The other way around.
[+] marlin|12 years ago|reply
Tried their web app a couple of years ago and was rather impressed (mainly due to their Skype support). However, it drifted away from my focus.

Whoa they have their own network. But then again, their original strength was the combination of OTHER im networks, where i could communicate with them all in one place.

Right now, i wonder why ever try this again?

[+] tsudot|12 years ago|reply
I've always preferred IMO as a client for all my XMPP accounts. I need to start looking for alternatives now.
[+] jscheel|12 years ago|reply
Well, looks like I'm deleting imo right now. I have absolutely no need for their own chat network.
[+] zapt02|12 years ago|reply
Pidgin is a great alternative!
[+] Navarr|12 years ago|reply
Pidgin isn't really an alternative. One of the best things about imo was remotely stored chat history, access to both the history and your IMs across devices (including ones you missed while you were out), etc.
[+] com2kid|12 years ago|reply
Pidgin doesn't run in a web browser Window.

It sucks that I now have to go back to a stand alone IM app, I've been using a web based client for close to a decade now.

[+] shahar2k|12 years ago|reply
unfortunately it's not a webapp
[+] TallGuyShort|12 years ago|reply
Any recommendations for an Android messaging app that allows you to be connected to mutliple Google accounts at once? I loved imo.im for this, and it was way better than any others I tried.
[+] jinushaun|12 years ago|reply
Hangout supports multiple Google accts.
[+] gnicholas|12 years ago|reply
IMO, this seems like a pretty bad idea.