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The Death of AIM

After Microsoft Messenger, there goes down AIM, one of the oldest modern messaging clients. I suppose it was too difficult to bear the word "AOL" and yet stand for modernity.

What a strange world we live in, where things rise, thrive and wither away within a few years, until they eventually pass away in total oblivion, not unlike what the Japanese call kodokushi—those elderly who die alone and remain undiscovered for the longest time.

PanAm, Kodak, Blockbuster Video, Radio Shack, now AIM… someone said to me it's the way of the world, those companies didn't adapt and can only blame themselves for their disappearances… I must be particularly unrealistic, but I find such vision of things awfully cold-hearted. I can't help but picture the individual tragedies of the employees who had to vacate their workplace after an entire life dedicated to a company; the devastating feeling of failure the employers must suffer as they powerlessly witnessed what they inherited decay; I can't help but contemplate the absurdity of our society that forgets the very names it recently idolized; and beyond that, I can't help but espy in the quiet demise of AIM yet another bleak proof that our memories are more short-termed than ever. I suppose it's time to watch Sunset Boulevard again.

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