Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
IRC is what we need. Communications ought to be decentralised.
IRC has entered its 39th year and 513 unique networks (of notable size) are tracked by netsplit.de, an increase by 2 since the beginning of this month.
When Canonical (or Ubuntu) 'abandons' IRC it only means to say its presence in IRC will be "unofficial" (not end), i.e. "Canonical leaves IRC aside" (not behind).
Some people try to extrapolate, based on Canonical's actions/policies, and say IRC is "dying". They said the same thing a decade ago and two decades ago. And yet, IRC is still widely used. █