Yes, they should really come up with a new standard. But I believe most people are using Facebook Messenger nowadays, not surprisingly. I was never really into chatting, but way back I used Miranda, IM2 and Pidgin. I hated Trillian, it was way too bloated. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Chat/Instant-Messaging/IM-Instant-Messenger.shtml
My bad, forgot about Skype. I have never actually used it, I also don't own a webcam, but it makes sense that it's popular.
A growing alternative, especially for the gaming community, appears to be Discord. According to my adult son, it allows for both standard instant messaging and it also allows for voice communications. He also reports that you can create chat rooms as well. https://discordapp.com/ P.S. I have installed it only in order to communicate with him. I haven't used it much yet.
