The thing is though is that it would be quite difficult to run Slack over IRC with feature parity. The basics are easy like channels and users, but venturing into private channels, group-DMs, custom emojis, (video) calling/screen sharing, status emoji/message, would all require so much custom work on top that the service wouldn't be fully usable over an IRC client apart from Slack's.
IRC had a lot of these but they required clients to agree on the direct connect protocol. But the core statements you're making still hold. It's a lot of work and Slack had done a solid job. It also acts as a repository in the way no IRC server ever did. The closest that irc came was irc bouncers that maintained persistence and logging.
It also acts as a repository in the way no IRC server ever did. The closest that irc came was irc bouncers that maintained persistence and logging.
Yep. Some people at work are super resistant to using slack and prefer IRC, even though slack will make their lives easier. And I get that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude, but I can't help but shake my head at the people managing these IRC bouncers at work. Like they'd rather die managing these cloud VMs running ZNC than ever use slack. Those bouncers are likely to be poorly-secured. They can see nothing when ZNC dies and the external servers don't play well with the corporate firewall (literally, people send IRC traffic through ports 80 or 443 because they can't get through the firewall otherwise).
And don't get me started on teams running bots in order to get github/jira/ci/etc integration with IRC. It's just insanity. Just use slack and its dead simple, no-bots-required webhooks/apps. Quit wasting the company's time standing up all this additional infrastructure because you're too stubborn to switch to a better chat client.
