This came out of Microsoft Research, which was a bit of a safe haven from such stuff back then.
replyMSN Chat was the full corporate bundled with windows program that matches your description of ‘90s Microsoft. A non-monetized chat app targeting decentralized protocols definitely was not.
Still, they managed to Embrace&Extend the IRC protocol in a way that was annoying to anyone not using Comic Chat.
replyMicrosoft was a massive corporation
replyTo imply that every single person there was evil to their core simply by association is utterly ridiculous.
I doubt the guy who created Minesweeper was dreaming of world domination while working there
The fish stinks from the head. And yes, some departments have some freedom and some good people.
replyBut it was in the timeframe where the "browser wars" gained momentum, where Microsoft Network tried to "Microsoftify" the Internet etc.
Even if it was a research project by research focussed people it fit in the bigger strategy and gave a friendly face.
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