What are/were Topical Chats?

To the best of my knowledge, Topical Chats were a beta feature that never made it to the main release. It started around the release of AIM 4.7. If you ever messed around with Resource Hacker and aimres.dll, you might have come across some references to it. The AIM chat window would be slightly different with the top portion loading an AIM-style (limited HTML support) web page. I do remember seeing the references in aimres.dll, but I can't remember if I ever saw this feature actually being used back in the day.

Why am I even talking about these chats?

I was going to start by saying "a few days ago", but it has been over a week already! Whoops! On Feb. 28th, Animadoria sent me an IM to show me that NINA has successfully revived them! I am not sure if this will be implemented for public usage, but it was really cool to see. I took an animated GIF screenshot (AIM 5.0.2892) to show you all!

If you have any more knowledge contribute about Topical Chats, please contact me and share said knowledge with us!

Post Script: Do you like my custom smiley set?

That's all for now; stay tuned!

Alright! So... I waited until I was in a solid position before even bringing this up:

After 3 years of sitting dormant, I have resumed work on the xakAIM32.ocx project! What is it you ask? This is a tool aimed towards people that are new to VB6 and AIM programming via Win32 API. Weird saying that in 2025...

The Visual Basic 6.0 IDE was originally released in 1998. Microsoft ended mainstream support in 2005, and extended support ended April 8, 2008. The core Visual Basic 6.0 runtime will still be supported through the lifetime of Windows 11 which could be until 2027! The successor to VB6 is VB.NET, and it was originally launched in 2002. I do believe you can still use VB6 OCX files in the latest VB.NET release, but I only dabble here-and-there with VB.NET 2019. VB.NET is cool and all, but for my nostalgic purposes, nothing can replace VB6!

Getting back on track, this OCX file makes it ridiculously easy to crank out a classic AIM prog. I have compiled the beta xakAIM32.ocx and anyone who is interested can contact me on Discord for a pre-release copy. I'm going to need a few more days to whip up a demo app for it.

'xakAIM32.ocx
'Built from xakAIM32.bas

'Project Started: 2022-01-23
'First Alpha:     2022-01-24 (45 subs/functions)

'Sat dormant for 3 years

'Project Resumed: 2025-01-21
'First Beta:      2025-01-26 (113 subs/functions)

You can read more about it on the AIM-Files.com Discord server channel #projects!
Once I complete the demo app I will do a proper release!

NINA and Escargot #announcements — January 5, 2025 at 3:16 PM (EST)

Hello buddies,
 
We've got a fairly large update, and we suggest you read through this whole announcement to get an overview of what's been done.

Be sure to (re-)patch your AIM client, as the new and improved patcher fixes many URLs like AIM Today, news ticker, etc: NINAPatcher.exe (You may get a false positive from Windows Defender, we're looking into why, but it's a clean exe)
 
Updates:
• AIM: File transfers, direct connections, etc (aka rendezvous) now work and require port forwarding on your router/firewall, unless you have PowerTools (see https://nina.chat/donate/#rewards).
• ICQ: Improvements to older ICQ direct connect features, subject to firewall/router port forwarding, PowerTools proxying coming soon.
• ICQ: Moods and statuses in older ICQ clients should now show
• TOC: Directory search implemented
• TOC: Rendezvous support, including proposal, accepting and cancel
• General: We have the new account system up, you can check it out by logging into the NINA or Escargot websites. It's only the initial version, more features such as multi-account management, supporter status, etc coming soon!

Fixes:
• AIM/ICQ: Issue of some buddies never appearing online is now fixed
• AIM/ICQ: Sessions should persist for WebAPI connections
• MSN: If you are running Windows 11 version 24H2, and can't log in ("contact list not available"), run this patch: EscargotWin24H2.zip
• ICQ: Improved support for clients which do not support HTML messages, please report any issues (with client version)

Operations:
• The NINA logo is now officially known as Runningma'am, let's give the young lady the recognition she deserves!
• We have no new updates on the Microsoft situation as we haven't heard from them since our last update on the matter. Let's hope it stays that way, but we'll keep you updated when/if things change.

Support Us:
• Doing all this work and running this service is not cheap, so please consider supporting us. Support comes with benefits and we have many available options on how to donate, learn more here: https://nina.chat/donate/

I'll have some site news posted as early as tomorrow! That's it for now!

Aside from that I forgot to mention in a previous update that I noticed a typo stating the incorrect day of the week for my January 2024 post! It may have taken a year, but it was noticed and corrected! ;-P

I made a small tweak to the site, reducing the width of the layout by 40%. For those who weren't around back in the day, this site's layout is based on its original iteration as the AIM section of AOL-Files.com. I kept it at full width because that's how it used to be. Screen sizes and resolutions have certainly changed in the past 20 years. And not just getting bigger-than-ever, but also becoming smaller-than-ever with smart phones and other internet enabled portable devices. So what do you think about this tweak? Let us know on Discord!

The AOL/AIM revival scene has seen continued growth this past year! Off the top of my head, the largest milestone for the scene was NINA releasing their P3 (AOL 4.0) protocol support on May 6, 2024! I think getting File Transfers/Direct IMs working in December was a major AIM milestone for NINA and the scene in general as well. Many people have been requesting these features for years now!

What about Phoenix? I have personally been unsuccessful getting it to work on Phoenix, aside from a local <-> local connection. Very recently a member of the Phoenix Discord asked Wildman himself about it:

SleepyBones (ex. LazyBones) — 12/22/2024 1:21 PM
@Wildman Productions Will AIM ever support sending images and calling?

Wildman Productions — 12/22/2024 6:26 PM
i've been able to send images through direct connection before with specific versions of AIM.
the calling function we still dont know why it wont work, something undocumented in the protocol specification

SleepyBones (ex. LazyBones) — 12/22/2024 6:28 PM
Which specific versions? So I can download them

Wildman Productions — 12/22/2024 6:29 PM
i think maybe 4.7 or 5.0, later versions of 5 seem to have some undocumented additional security that needs implemented server side, because even though direct connection would initially work it would forcibly disconnect after a second or two.

Will 2025 be the year Phoenix is able to add this feature as well? Only time will tell!

I'm very excited to see what 2025 has in store for the AOL/AIM revival scene!