Microsoft in Talks to Acquire Discord

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Lunar Ronin

Lunar Ronin

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Reports indicate that Microsoft is in talks to acquire Discord for more than $10 billion. The deal is supposedly in the very early stages with nothing finalized. Word is that both Amazon and Epic Games have also held discussions with Discord in regards to a sale.
 
Wasn't there an old tool on the internet that used to relay chat between users? IIRC it was called something or other.
 
Yeah, there were a lot of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) programs. mIRC was Microsoft’s. ICQ was a big one also.
 
Man if they fuck it up like they did with Skype. I swear.
 
Unfortunately, IRC doesn’t hold up well in this mobile device age. There’s no way to keep track of conversation. It was designed purely for desktop computers. There’s also no voice chat nor video, and no support for pictures. It is, for all intents and purposes, an ancient relic.
 
Apparition said:
Unfortunately, IRC doesn’t hold up well in this mobile device age. There’s no way to keep track of conversation. It was designed purely for desktop computers. There’s also no voice chat nor video, and no support for pictures. It is, for all intents and purposes, an ancient relic.
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Yeah. You could still send files with ICQ, though.
 
It pains me to say this but I'm glad to hear it is them and not google. Google is Wonderful about trying new things but man I don't know if I would jump on any service they offer these days. I just don't have faith it will be managed effectively in a year or two.
 
(sigh) not thrilled to hear this.
 
Let's be realistic though. If this all goes to hell in a handbasket someone else will come along and improve on it.
 
Bunch said:
Let's be realistic though. If this all goes to hell in a handbasket someone else will come along and improve on it.
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You say that, but everybody knows how big a dumpster fire Facebook and Twitter are, for example, and that hasn't happened. Once services like them or Discord hit a certain critical mass, the cost of switching goes up hugely - it's not just you you have to persuade to move, but also your entire friend group or community. Sure, folk regularly come along with services that look much better on paper, but then they launch, get a few early adopters, and stall out, or the bigger service just outright pinches their ideas.

I don't know if Discord has hit critical mass, but my feeling is that if it hasn't then it's not far off.
 
Ladybird said:
You say that, but everybody knows how big a dumpster fire Facebook and Twitter are, for example, and that hasn't happened. Once services like them or Discord hit a certain critical mass, the cost of switching goes up hugely - it's not just you you have to persuade to move, but also your entire friend group or community. Sure, folk regularly come along with services that look much better on paper, but then they launch, get a few early adopters, and stall out, or the bigger service just outright pinches their ideas.

I don't know if Discord has hit critical mass, but my feeling is that if it hasn't then it's not far off.
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Maybe. I use it primarily for voice/web conferencing. I already use at least two other services because no one has that dominance yet. Zoom, Discord, whatever Googles is called this week. If I had an iPhone I'd use whatever Apple has by default. Oh and I have Microsoft friends so we use their solution too.

I'm not sure the way they are now has that network effect strength.
 
If it makes people feel any better, Discord might be shopping around the company in order to establish the value of the company as they prepare for an IPO. There may not actually be a sale coming.
 
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