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Comment by jen729w | Hacker News Reader

Here's my theory on why most people use this sort of service (see also: Skype, Gmail, etc.) rather than a technically superior, independent, non-client-specific service: no server names to remember.

Want to set up an IRC client? Sure. What's the server and port name? Got firewall rules set up? That's complicated, and easy to get wrong. Your own IMAP email service? Same.

Want to set up Skype? Just sign in here. Want to set up Gmail? Just sign in here. Want to set up Slack? Just sign in here.

No regular person used a chat client until MSN Messenger and Skype came along. Nobody. Now they all use the messenger service built in to Facebook, and they don't even think about it.

It's just way easier, even for technical people.

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> No regular person used a chat client until MSN Messenger and Skype came along. Nobody.

AIM?

That was the heavy hitter. jen is still right that simplicity and ease of use are incredibly important. Especially that forcing anyone to work with server IP's, ports, and firewalls leads to instant negative reaction. Gotta make that disappear somehow.

Fortunately, there's a lot of schemes to do that with untrusted 3rd parties. Need more work and polish w/ OSS implementations.

No regular person ever renames files. No regular person ever uses a browser that didn't come with their system. No regular person ever properly navigates an average website without help. Your point is?

> No regular person ever renames files.

But you can still use a file that you haven't renamed.

> No regular person ever uses a browser that didn't come with their system.

But the browser that comes with your OS is a perfectly serviceable browser.

> No regular person ever properly navigates an average website without help.

Nonsense.

> Your point is?

That your average person - let's take my best mate, a pro photographer and perfectly competent human being with few technical skills - can't/won't/doesn't want to use services that require complex set-up.

Whenever she moves to a new Mac and needs her email setting up, you know what she does? She calls me. She has literally no clue what her email server settings should be. If I told her, she wouldn't remember. The detail means nothing to her.

You know what she doesn't ask me to? Sign her in to Skype or Facebook.

That's my point. What was yours?

My point was that the 'average' computer user is easily bewildered by many things, and using an IRC client isn't especially difficult compared to them. Using a link to a ready-made config for a web IRC client is easy and relatively painless and doesn't require any additional magical insight and fairy dust by a group of Silicon Valley dreamers. The use cases for Slack is arguable an Euler diagram circle exactly on top of those for IRC, a slightly different one than those for FB Messenger or Skype. Slack is redundant/bloated because of IRC, Messenger isn't.

Yeah I just think - and this is just off the top of my head, I have nothing but anecdote to back it up - that as soon as you reach that certain level of "config", their eyes glaze over. That level seems to be when you start talking server names.

People just don't understand what that is, let alone how to actually use it. But everyone seems to be able to figure out how to sign in to an app with nothing but their email address and the same password they use for everything else, and so there the line is drawn.

Again, nothing but conjecture. It's just something I've come to realise over the years. (FWIW, I hate Skype etc. Horrible! But, I understand why Jane Public uses it.)

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