UX in messengers: 2005 - 2015. Part I. Background. Years 2005-2007
In the process of competition, instant messengers have undergone significant changes in order to be more accessible to customers. We invite you to consider the most significant steps in the development of functional, interfaces and UX instant messaging systems over the past 10 years.
The wave of popularity of ICQ , the first instant messenger launched in 1996, began to decline. A large ICQ client base was provided by the simplicity and availability of the service. The basic idea of ​​the messenger - the ability to search for contacts by name, place of residence, mail, nickname, gender, age, and other information provided by users - is reflected even in the original name: the acronym ICQ practically coincided in sound with 'I seek you' (= I search you). For a long time, minimal functionality and undemanding of resources were decisive factors when choosing a client for instant messaging.
Familiar to many features of ICQ was a unique identification number, which was issued to users in ascending order. Before you begin to communicate, it was required to find out the number of the interlocutor. At the same time, beautiful and special rooms were of special value and could be resold for substantial sums.
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In older versions of ICQ, there was such an unusual feature for modern users as outputting incoming and outgoing messages in separate windows (which, obviously, was a step in the transition from email format). It should be noted that in spite of the fact that ICQ was inferior in popularity to other messengers abroad, in Russia it was widely distributed, some still use ICQ.
The OSCAR network protocol, which is the basis of ICQ, despite its proprietary nature and code closeness, had already been disassembled by reverse engineering methods and was used to develop a huge number of unofficial clients that extend functionality (such as the Russian multiprotocol QIP client that appeared in 2005).
The popularity of unofficial clients grew, while the official ICQ grew slower and overloaded with advertising. In ICQ 5 in 2005, a system of skins was introduced, but at that time the service was already overloaded with all kinds of “tinsel”.
The trend of decline in popularity has also affected the AIM messenger of the American company AOL, which by this time already belonged to ICQ. AIM was especially popular in offices and workplaces. Even Microsoft introduced support for the AIM protocol into its MSN messenger, which resulted in repeated rewriting of the AIM code and turned into a cyberwar, during which Microsoft programmers hacked the updated AIM code over and over again. The end of the confrontation put the threat to make the malicious code in the Microsoft MSN.
The AIM messenger was innovative. Voice chat was introduced in it much earlier than in Skype. The messenger could transfer files and exchange SMS with mobile phones. However, it was distributed free of charge and did not care much about its development. In an attempt to earn something on the messenger, it was decided to introduce advertising banners that did not fit into the AIM interface too much. The company has hampered the development of third-party plug-ins. AIM's small development team tried to assert their innovations, despite the opposition of the company's management.
A separate niche is occupied by IRC clients (for example, mIRC ). There are a lot of clients for the IRC protocol, they are especially popular among technically advanced users due to the simplicity of the protocol, open code, wide possibilities for integration, extensibility and automation with the help of a scripting language. Often used to create online conferences on private servers.
Similar functions are performed by clients based on the XMPP protocol (Jabber). These instant messaging systems are popular now. They have practically not changed since its inception, having a specific scope. These systems get a second wind using web clients that are embedded directly into the site. It is very likely that the chats that you see on the sites use exactly one of these protocols.
The vast majority of IRC and Jabber clients are just text chat. Sometimes with font customization, but the default font is “technical”, monospaced. Sometimes with highlighting messages or nicknames in the color of the line Sometimes this is also customized. Someone wittily called such an implementation a “multiplayer Notepad.”
Skype , launched in 2003, was initially positioned as an instant messaging service with microphone and camcorder functions, and was one of the most promising projects for its time (which was later justified), but since Skype was quite demanding of computer resources of the time, popularity came to him far from immediately. Few people perceived it in the context of instant-messenger, using mainly as a means of voice and video.
MSN Messenger (later - Windows Live Messenger), included in the basic delivery of Microsoft operating systems, was popular primarily because of the distribution method. By this time, it already had features such as file transfer and audio calls through one of the first VoIP services. With the release of Windows XP in MSN-messenger was added the function of grouping contacts and group voice conversations. One of the interesting features of MSN was the plug-in for integration with Windows Media Player, which displayed a line with the music Now Playing in the user's profile. In 2005, flash-animated files were inserted into the MSN-messenger to insert messages called 'wink' (wink). They served as the basis for modern animated emoticons and emoji.
In 2005, Google Talk was launched, the key feature of which was, of course, deep integration with your Google account and Gmail. Google Talk uses the XMPP (Jabber) protocol mentioned above.
A large number of instant messengers and their protocols in the presence of a trend towards integration and standardization led to the emergence of the format of multi-protocol instant messengers. One of them, QIP, has already been mentioned above. Unlike the old messengers with their own protocols, the developers of which were involved, including the creation of these protocols, in such messengers the emphasis is on the interface and special features. As a result of the development of the whole "combines".
Take, for example, the instant messenger of this format - Trillian . In addition to its own Astra protocol, it supports the ICQ, IRC, Jabber, Facebook, MSN (Windows Live), Yahoo, Facebook and other protocols. He also knows how to write on Twitter and use mail. Trillian can also play audio files with emotions during audio communication, can archive transferred files in the archive, has a wide functionality for recording conversation history and user actions with support for XML markup. Such programs allow you to "collect" contacts scattered across different social networks and third-party services.
Twitter appeared. In this service, ideas about laconic statuses and short public messages soared in the air. Most multi-client clients have added support for Twitter, although it is more adapted for use on smartphones through its own client, and on computers it is easier to use the web interface.
A version of Skype 3.5 has been released, in which there is support for video in the user profile, and the ability to embed video in a chat. Skype is gaining more and more popularity, displacing other instant messengers like ICQ.
Year 2005: before and during
The wave of popularity of ICQ , the first instant messenger launched in 1996, began to decline. A large ICQ client base was provided by the simplicity and availability of the service. The basic idea of ​​the messenger - the ability to search for contacts by name, place of residence, mail, nickname, gender, age, and other information provided by users - is reflected even in the original name: the acronym ICQ practically coincided in sound with 'I seek you' (= I search you). For a long time, minimal functionality and undemanding of resources were decisive factors when choosing a client for instant messaging.
Familiar to many features of ICQ was a unique identification number, which was issued to users in ascending order. Before you begin to communicate, it was required to find out the number of the interlocutor. At the same time, beautiful and special rooms were of special value and could be resold for substantial sums.
')
In older versions of ICQ, there was such an unusual feature for modern users as outputting incoming and outgoing messages in separate windows (which, obviously, was a step in the transition from email format). It should be noted that in spite of the fact that ICQ was inferior in popularity to other messengers abroad, in Russia it was widely distributed, some still use ICQ.
The OSCAR network protocol, which is the basis of ICQ, despite its proprietary nature and code closeness, had already been disassembled by reverse engineering methods and was used to develop a huge number of unofficial clients that extend functionality (such as the Russian multiprotocol QIP client that appeared in 2005).
The popularity of unofficial clients grew, while the official ICQ grew slower and overloaded with advertising. In ICQ 5 in 2005, a system of skins was introduced, but at that time the service was already overloaded with all kinds of “tinsel”.
The trend of decline in popularity has also affected the AIM messenger of the American company AOL, which by this time already belonged to ICQ. AIM was especially popular in offices and workplaces. Even Microsoft introduced support for the AIM protocol into its MSN messenger, which resulted in repeated rewriting of the AIM code and turned into a cyberwar, during which Microsoft programmers hacked the updated AIM code over and over again. The end of the confrontation put the threat to make the malicious code in the Microsoft MSN.The AIM messenger was innovative. Voice chat was introduced in it much earlier than in Skype. The messenger could transfer files and exchange SMS with mobile phones. However, it was distributed free of charge and did not care much about its development. In an attempt to earn something on the messenger, it was decided to introduce advertising banners that did not fit into the AIM interface too much. The company has hampered the development of third-party plug-ins. AIM's small development team tried to assert their innovations, despite the opposition of the company's management.
A separate niche is occupied by IRC clients (for example, mIRC ). There are a lot of clients for the IRC protocol, they are especially popular among technically advanced users due to the simplicity of the protocol, open code, wide possibilities for integration, extensibility and automation with the help of a scripting language. Often used to create online conferences on private servers.
Similar functions are performed by clients based on the XMPP protocol (Jabber). These instant messaging systems are popular now. They have practically not changed since its inception, having a specific scope. These systems get a second wind using web clients that are embedded directly into the site. It is very likely that the chats that you see on the sites use exactly one of these protocols.
The vast majority of IRC and Jabber clients are just text chat. Sometimes with font customization, but the default font is “technical”, monospaced. Sometimes with highlighting messages or nicknames in the color of the line Sometimes this is also customized. Someone wittily called such an implementation a “multiplayer Notepad.”
Skype , launched in 2003, was initially positioned as an instant messaging service with microphone and camcorder functions, and was one of the most promising projects for its time (which was later justified), but since Skype was quite demanding of computer resources of the time, popularity came to him far from immediately. Few people perceived it in the context of instant-messenger, using mainly as a means of voice and video.
MSN Messenger (later - Windows Live Messenger), included in the basic delivery of Microsoft operating systems, was popular primarily because of the distribution method. By this time, it already had features such as file transfer and audio calls through one of the first VoIP services. With the release of Windows XP in MSN-messenger was added the function of grouping contacts and group voice conversations. One of the interesting features of MSN was the plug-in for integration with Windows Media Player, which displayed a line with the music Now Playing in the user's profile. In 2005, flash-animated files were inserted into the MSN-messenger to insert messages called 'wink' (wink). They served as the basis for modern animated emoticons and emoji.In 2005, Google Talk was launched, the key feature of which was, of course, deep integration with your Google account and Gmail. Google Talk uses the XMPP (Jabber) protocol mentioned above.
A large number of instant messengers and their protocols in the presence of a trend towards integration and standardization led to the emergence of the format of multi-protocol instant messengers. One of them, QIP, has already been mentioned above. Unlike the old messengers with their own protocols, the developers of which were involved, including the creation of these protocols, in such messengers the emphasis is on the interface and special features. As a result of the development of the whole "combines".
Take, for example, the instant messenger of this format - Trillian . In addition to its own Astra protocol, it supports the ICQ, IRC, Jabber, Facebook, MSN (Windows Live), Yahoo, Facebook and other protocols. He also knows how to write on Twitter and use mail. Trillian can also play audio files with emotions during audio communication, can archive transferred files in the archive, has a wide functionality for recording conversation history and user actions with support for XML markup. Such programs allow you to "collect" contacts scattered across different social networks and third-party services.
Year 2006
Twitter appeared. In this service, ideas about laconic statuses and short public messages soared in the air. Most multi-client clients have added support for Twitter, although it is more adapted for use on smartphones through its own client, and on computers it is easier to use the web interface.
Year 2007
A version of Skype 3.5 has been released, in which there is support for video in the user profile, and the ability to embed video in a chat. Skype is gaining more and more popularity, displacing other instant messengers like ICQ.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/268551/
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