Farewell, AIM: AOL Instant Messenger Is Signing Off Permanently
PCWorld|November 2017

AIM’s final away message.

Brad Chacos
Farewell, AIM: AOL Instant Messenger Is Signing Off Permanently

It’s the end of an era that realistically ended a decade ago. On Friday, AOL announced (go.pcworld.com/aolf) that AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) will shut down permanently on December 15, 2017.

When I heard the news, my mind flashed back to the boxes full of America Online CDs in every store, to the dubstep-like beeps and boops of a 28.8K modem connecting to the Internet, and AIM chat rooms providing a real-time connection with people around the world long before social networks accomplished the same task.

This story is from the November 2017 edition of PCWorld.

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This story is from the November 2017 edition of PCWorld.

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