lost art?
Cracking and warez have been thriving more than ever, even before mIRC introduced the unclosable About window. In fact, IRC is a big factor of warez (sadly) and why people, including myself, are so against mIRC being used for the purpose of mass file trading. Khaled making mIRC a bit more annoying for unregistered users isn't going to suddenly make the warez world shoot up into the heavens.
Making mIRC freeware would not only possibly mean Khaled has to discontinue programming of future mIRC versions (because a lot of people DO register - just look at the latest charity appeal) but would also mean the warez community have "won" in a way. I think it would be a terrible idea to give in to lame abusive users who are too cheap to either put up with an About window or pay a small fee for a program they use daily.
"but anyone with a little VB programming skill, can make a little chat cilent, myself included..."Well go ahead then. Unfortunately, I doubt you'll be able to mimic anything as smooth, feature enriched or generally brilliant as mIRC
Happy chatting.
Regards,