We were both into computers so he acted like it was a funny/novel piece of tech but he used it in daily life. Felt like stalkerware. You don't stalk your friends, and you don't violate their consent in the same way that friends dont use a patched snapchat client that disables screenshot notifs/keeps photos. Thats creeper shit!!!
This is documented in this old FAQ https://github.com/Kjir/amsn/blob/master/amsn/FAQ
(Former aMSN developer)
I admit now this is creepy.
Early ICQ didn't even store the contact list on the server so you had different contacts on every PC.
i checked out that "open chat window once someone starts typing" once out of novelty value... but it felt to stalky to keep it active, and wasnt really handy at all. sometimes ppl misclick and open the wrong window and realize later, others are reading past discussions... really not that useful as a feature
I understand OP's sentiment, and even share it to a degree.
It's 50% FOMO, and 50% a certain arrogance of "It made it to my client desktop, the bits are HERE, therefore they're mine now. How DARE you reach out remotely and remove them." Feels like a violation.
But these feelings are silly, and life is too short to worry about such things. There are better things to optimize for and spend time on.
This is a cool tech demo, but anyone who's thinking of using it PRACTICALLY should consider why they also don't root through their building's trash for nuggets others threw out.