When AIM launched in 1997, using the World Wide Web required a desktop computer with a clunky dial-up connection that tied up the phone lines.
AIM offered a platform for people to express themselves with embarrassing screen names, profiles filled with colorful fonts and emotional lyrics, and as many messages as you could send before someone in your house kicked you offline.
Oath, the company created earlier this year from Verizon’s merging of AOL and Yahoo, acknowledged this unfortunate fact in its announcement Friday of AIM’s shutdown.
Case in point: The announcement of AIM’s shutdown was made on Twitter and Tumblr, two of the newer communications platforms that helped displace it.
As one user put it, “I can’t decide which John Mayer song I should quote to express my sadness at the death of AOL Instant Messenger.”
- After 20 years, AIM goes away today. These are your most memorable momentsPhilly.com
- AOL Instant Messenger Officially Ends Its 20-Year Run on FridayFortune
- AOL Instant Messenger shuts down tomorrowFOX Carolina
- Goodbye: AOL Instant Messenger Signs Off For Good On FridayPatch.com
- Saying goodbye to AOL's instant messengerDuluth News Tribune
- Reminder: After 20 years, AIM officially shuts down tomorrow9to5Mac
- Goodbye: AIM service officially goes offline tomorrowNeowin
- AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) signs off for goodHEXUS
