Maybe I am being naive(going to assume I am), and i admittedly have never used HipChat. But could someone explain to me what this offers over say setting up your own XMPP or IRC server and using that?
Also, nontechnical people are often not very comfortable using IRC/XMPP.
None of it impossible to replicate in-house, but I dare a non-technical person to replicate HipChat's stack.
Nowadays we use GroupMe for things that must be read in a timely manner. It'd be nice if we could use GTalk for it (this is a Google Apps GTalk account, not a public one).
They can't even program a mobile app that reconnects me automatically (unless that's changed recently).
If that's the case, I'm puzzled as to why it would maintain so much traction when the record of communication can be so valuable (e.g. people searching the log vs asking a question that has been answered many times... )
Most IRC clients do not log out of the box, so direct messages from other users are easily lost unless you go out of your way to make sure - the server does not do this logging for you.
The server module which actually connects to, and interacts with, the IRC server.
The client portion which connects to, and interacts with, the quassel server.
Most people just use "Quassel" as a simple desktop app in which case both modules are merged and it acts just like a normal IRC client.
However you can also install the server module on a server somewhere in which case it stays connected to the IRC server, buffering chats etc. You can then connect to it with the client part of quassel which is installed on your local desktop, which you close it all you are doing is closing the client module.
I really like that design, a good separation of concerns allows it.
I may be wrong, but I feel like the right persistent chat service can/should become a 21st century usenet/google group, where the conversation is always happening, IFFT-style hooks help you filter/act on info, and history is Gmail-simple.
I'm investigating a group-chat solution right now for an organization of several thousand non-technical members, and my intuition tells me IRC would simply not be adopted by most users.
apt-get install ejabberd
I'm sure you can do all of these with ejabberd and some additional external tools, but setting all these components up goes way beyond just apt-get'ing the software.
Now, you might not need some (or all) of the additional features, so ejabberd is the perfect solution for you, but you can't jump to the conclusion that because you don't need a feature, nobody does.
I'm a quite new HipChat customer - we were using skype before, but the indexed archive is a total killer feature for me and already helped me and my coworkers a lot as it helps us to learn from conversations between other people, thus reducing the amount of stuff that has to be asked multiple times.
For me, that's totally worth the $2 per user per month.
What do you do when hipchat's severs are down? Twiddle your thumbs and wait for it to magically come back? At least if it's your server you can actively fix it instead of waiting for someone else to do it…
Even Linux folks can participate with additional work (e.g. dozens of packages to install if you're running Ubuntu 64, since Adobe AIR is 32-bit only; annoying).
That said, I agree that the barrier to entry is pretty low.