Let me be the first to ask, theblkpanda, What are you on? Geez! B) jk!
Anyway, quite frankly, I don't like IRC. I much prefer the whole IM approach with AIM, YIM, MSN, etc.
Of course, chat rooms are great forums and so when someone wants to join a group discussion they can. Hence the IRC room.
I don't run IRC most of the time because, quite frankly, I use it as a SIGS/WON replacement. When I want to play a game I log onto IRC. When I want to chat with someone in real-time, I log on and hope that they're there. Otherwise I have no use for IRC.
That is why I started developing OPUTool. I wanted it to function as a chat client as well as an IM program. OPUTool could be minimized but you would get a notification whenever you got a PM. Or like YIM's chat rooms, flash the task-bar button until the window regains focus.
Of course, IRC is a great idea and certainly works. I just don't think a lot of people really want to be bothered to have it running in the background. Could I make changes to my Windows Start scripts to automatically load MIRC, log on as my name, join the OP2 room and then drop it to the system tray? Sure I could. I just don't have the time to be bothered with it most of the time...
I hate putting it that way but that's the truth. <_<
:op2: Leeor