I am talking about customers that developers build websites and online communities for. IRC users are not customers since the service is free. They are users or chatters.
If a web developer approached one of his customers and offered a chat solution such as a rip of Dreamforge + third party java applet + third party services + shell account then he would no doubt get laughed at.
I have four chatrooms accessible from my own website and while I haven't ordered complete customisation (due to the fact that my website is commercial-free and as such does not earn revenue) the solution I have craps all over any freeware.
I would prefer to be backed by a Government owned telecommunications giant who has tested a range of software solutions before choosing the best one for the job than rely on people that have only ever seen one side to the story and based their decision on others that fit into the same catagory. What I am talking about here is the typical anti-Microsoft, anti-Windows, anti-AnythingBig brigade who live in tall poppy land because they haven't got the vision or courage to become big themselves, probably because jealousy dominates their lives.
As for your quote on the number of users some servers have, that's real good doing the rounds doing /lusers checks on the bot/fserve domains out there. I'm sure all these bots that put up half-hourly notices quoting FTP addresses puts a REAAAALLLLL BIIIIGGGG load on the servers. IRCnet and EFnet don't have services either so the longer term median load is cut in half straight away.
