
Discontinuing support for all third-party messaging networks - Navarr
http://blog.imo.im/post/78065991703/discontinuing-support-for-all-third-party-messaging
======
51Cards
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
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?

~~~
Perdition
Which is funny because there was a messaging client war in the late '90's as
well.

I'm waiting for someone to reinvent IRC for smart phones.

~~~
LordLandon
[https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/)

------
Navarr
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
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.

~~~
MetaCosm
Currently, to talk to everyone I speak to regularly requires: Skype, Hangouts
(multiple), IRC, AIM, WhatsApp, HipChat, Viber, Yahoo!, Facebook Chat...

Because I need 4x hangouts (1 per company I work with, contracting, my own
business, personal, etc) and many of the other apps either won't work with
other clients, or have crippled features or usefulness, I end up running 10
"chat" clients.

 _grumpy old man voice_ Back in my day, we used to be able to setup all our
text based messaging in one pidgin client, or a bitlbee instance! Damned kids.

~~~
magic_haze
It's not as bad now, since most platforms these days insist on a push
mechanism that is common to all the apps. You're stuck with different UIs, but
the cost is still like running a single client. Even better, because now they
cannot run continuously in the background.

------
mikeflynn
...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
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.

~~~
wlesieutre
@whodaman, you've been hellbanned. Neither of your comments seems to deserve
it, so it's not clear why.

Assuming you see this (can't reply to you directly), I think the usual advice
is to email pg.

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nobeard
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.

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chch
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/](http://www.aim.com/products/express/)

------
bhaile
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.

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twodayslate
Third party messaging was the only reason I used imo

------
chrishynes
Ugg. I've been loving the web chat, but first meebo then imo died a bad death.

Time to go back to [https://www.trillian.im/](https://www.trillian.im/), I
guess.

------
motyar
I stopped using IMO when Skype stopped supporting them.

~~~
nbody
The other way around.

~~~
higherpurpose
Skype stopped giving 3rd party access a long time ago.

------
marlin
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?

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tsudot
I've always preferred IMO as a client for all my XMPP accounts. I need to
start looking for alternatives now.

------
tobeportable
aka what's app story made us craving

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jscheel
Well, looks like I'm deleting imo right now. I have absolutely no need for
their own chat network.

------
uladzislau
IM+ is a good alternative [https://plus.im](https://plus.im)

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zapt02
Pidgin is a great alternative!

~~~
com2kid
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.

~~~
jimmaswell
Steam chat can be used in browser windows, and that's what I use on my phone.

------
TallGuyShort
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.

~~~
psykovsky
ChatSecure? Xabber?

------
ranndino
imo is a great chat client. slick, modern, beautiful & has a web app. This
decision is very unfortunate as there don't seem to be any good alternatives.
Here are their founders explaining the reasons behind it.

[http://maratryndin.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/why-imo-
messenge...](http://maratryndin.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/why-imo-messenger-is-
cutting-support-for-third-party-im-clients/)

------
ranndino
imo is a great chat client. slick, modern, beautiful & has a web app. This
decision is very unfortunate as there don't seem to be any good alternatives.
Here are their founders explaining the reasons behind it.

[http://maratryndin.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/why-imo-
messenge...](http://maratryndin.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/why-imo-messenger-is-
cutting-support-for-third-party-im-clients/)

------
gnicholas
IMO, this seems like a pretty bad idea.

