Microsoft Comic Chat, an IRC client from 30 years ago that helped popularize Comic Sans, is going open source
Microsoft is open-sourcing Comic Chat, a legendary IRC client from 1996 originally developed by Microsoft researcher David Kurlander, marking the software’s 30th anniversary.
Comic Chat was a groundbreaking experiment in IRC client design, featuring graphical avatars that presented conversations and chat rooms in comic strip form—a novel approach that differentiated it from text-based IRC clients of the era. The software became popular during the 1990s internet boom and eventually evolved into Microsoft Chat, which became the default chat client for MSN.
The release is also significant for Comic Chat’s historical role in popularizing Comic Sans, the distinctive typeface that became synonymous with casual digital communication. With the source code now available on GitHub, the software is being preserved for developers and internet historians interested in 90s-era technology and digital culture.
This open-sourcing decision reflects growing interest in software preservation and the cultural value of retro computing. Comic Chat represents an important chapter in the history of internet communication tools and graphical user interface experimentation.