Stage 1. Show intent of IRC development Completed IRC software development and excitement has slowed down in recent years with the uprising of alternative proprietary and closed messaging platforms. We must remind people that IRC is still here but now development has financial backing with refreshed interest. Best of all, that everything stays open and open source for everybody to use.

Stage 2. Sponsor development of an open source IRC server Completed Start right at the heart of an IRC network – the server. The user experience is only as good as the clients they use, and the clients are only as feature rich as the server supports. The popular IRC servers have slowly been implementing new standards as set by the IRCv3 working group to introduce new building blocks to bring IRC features up to par with today’s alternative messaging apps and platforms. To speed this up we will put development resources into a well-used open source IRC server to develop, test and implement these new building blocks and to further the stability and scalability of the server to cope with larger networks with ease. We hope that demonstrating and proving that IRC can be modernised will again strike up the spark that IRC development once had.

Stage 3. Launch a general purpose IRC network We have the IRC server development but now it needs to be proven. Not many networks will want to run bleeding edge software until it has been tested. A new IRC network will be launched under irc.irc.com using the bleeding edge IRC development to showcase what can now be done on the new server with a web client readily available to take advantage. Linking into an existing network with an established userbase will allow us to test new IRC features and receive feedback quickly. We don’t want to take over the existing network, we want irc.com to run side by side, each with its own identity.

Stage 4. Launch the IRC Foundation Sponsoring the IRC server development that we use for our own network is pretty selfish. That’s where the IRC Foundation comes into play by opening up sponsorships to other crucial and prominent IRC projects; Servers, clients, bouncers and other IRC related projects. Providing documentation, tools and resources for IRC development in an easy to use manner. Our aim is to improve the IRC community as a whole and helping other IRC projects thrive is how we go about it.