I heard two girls in the street, one of which was saying “I sent you a ‘happy new year’ message on MSN.”
I couldn’t keep from thinking that ten years ago she’d have said “on IRC”.
As the internet went from geeky to mainstream, people went from saying IRC, newgroups, web, to saying MSN, Google Talk, Google.
It’s fascinating (in a way) how the protocol-oriented discourse shifted to a brand-oriented one.