Mxit - The Rise and Fall

[mercurial]

The millennials killed that with Slack

I remember the days of MIRC. Yes, merc was on mirc

 

[Recallza]

I remember the days of MIRC. Yes, merc was on mirc

IRC is still around

 

[xera]

I think the reason why mxit failed against WhatsApp is because WhatsApp added people automatically by looking at your phonebook. mxit wanted us to add nicknames and so did bbm, but i really think it was the phonebook integration which was the big attraction.

Good point. I think another reason, is that Whatsapp never had the concept of having to be "online" to receive messages. With MXit, you had to login each time you opened the app. That also meant you couldn't send messages to someone who was offline. This introduced a bigger problem, where your messages would get lost if somebody got disconnected, resulting in the term DC ("disconnected", please resend) being quite common.

Yet another point, is they very slow to add group chats. I added "client side" group chats in my PC client xera Maxmus, long before MXit had group chats.

Their custom GUI's were great on the entire range of S40/S60 devices, as well as Blackberries etc, however when it came to making apps for smarter phones such as Android, their UI's immediately felt clunky, bloated and heavy, compared with slicker, lightweight minimalist apps that we were accustomed to.

 

[Bighit]

Now you're bringing back memories @xera , "got DC". I also forgot about having to log in to receive messages, big disadvantage.

 

[Sapphiron]

I was all in on MSN Messager and IRC before mixit became a thing. Went to Skype after that and then to Telegram

Whatsapp is the app I have but have notifications switched off on.

 

[Swa]

IRC is still around

Will never go away, just like ham.

 

[PsYTraNc3]

Loads of good memories!
From moderating chatrooms late at night, being in love with multiple people , to marrying one of those contacts I asked a freind for.