AOL Instant Messenger Shutting Down

Trillian was actually lower demand than many of the primary clients it integrated, especially as other clients implemented ads well before it did. Meebo was super convenient for its online login function, making it a great option if you use public, school, or work computers a lot.

These days I really just chat via Steam chat and texting, though. Even among my friends, they seem to mostly stick exclusively to gaming chat services and phone-based services that integrate into texting.
Kinda sad, knowing that we're leaving the days of early digital wonder- of being part of such a large collective of people discovering a whole new realm of communication together- behind, in favor for streamlined, taken-for-granted, less focused options.
I guess the next time we'll really get a sense of wonder from communication development is when we develop virtual reality communications, holo-communications, or teleportation. :P

Well, gaming is in the same position- every DOS-era game used to be a wonder, and with new genre variants and design concepts popping up on a regular basis, Now, it feels like we mostly just hold out for games that are especially polished or offer minor tweaks to existing concepts or technological improvements. The wonder of encountering dying of dysentry while crunching numbers upon the scorched earth within the dungeons of Persia is gone.. :'(

Then again, other than the graceful aging of classic isometric JRPGs, most early games suffered from abysmally clunky mechanics or awkwardly implemented graphics, so I can't say I miss the actual games all that much, nostalgic elements aside. :P