Microsoft Comic Chat goes open source on GitHub
Original: Microsoft Comic Chat is now open source
Why This Matters
Open-sourcing 1990s-era software preserves early internet history and enables study of pioneering UI concepts.
Microsoft has open-sourced Comic Chat, its 1996 IRC client that rendered conversations as comic panels with illustrated characters and speech bubbles. The source code is now available on GitHub, offering developers and retro computing enthusiasts access to this piece of internet history.
Microsoft has released the source code for Comic Chat, its 1996 IRC-based chat client, on GitHub. Originally developed by David 'DJ' Kurlander in the Microsoft Research Virtual Worlds Group starting in 1995, Comic Chat was built using Visual C++ 4.0 and MFC, and shipped alongside Internet Explorer 3. Rather than displaying messages as scrolling text, Comic Chat automatically transformed IRC conversations into comic strip panels, complete with illustrated characters, speech bubbles, poses, and facial expressions determined by conversational cues in the typed text. For example, typing 'I like that' might trigger a character to point at itself; angry language could produce a frowning or crossed-arms pose. The software also holds a notable typographic legacy: it was the first major home for Comic Sans, the informal hand-lettered font designed by Microsoft typographer Vincent Connare in 1994. The announcement was made by Robert Standefer and Scott Hanselman on the Microsoft Open Source Blog on July 16. The full source code is now publicly available on GitHub for developers, historians, and retro computing enthusiasts.