AOL Instant Messenger to be shut down?

According to reports online, it looks AOL might be shutting down its AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service. The company has reportedly fired 40 of its AOL staff, leaving only the support staff behind to keep the service running. Apparently the main reason behind the lay-offs was to keep costs of running the service low so that more profit could be generated.

However, with nobody to help develop the service or its software, AIM will probably fade away into obscurity; especially with such fierce competition such as Skype, Facebook and Gchat available on the market. I guess we’ll just have to see where AIM stands a year from now. How many of you still use it, and if you do – what’s the main reason you’re staying on?

George Wong
Categories: Web
Tags: aol