I Made a Discord Client for Vintage Macintosh (System 7 - OS 9)

Posted by SDogAlex@reddit | retrobattlestations | View on Reddit | 13 comments

I’m happy to announce the release of MacinCord, a native Discord client for Classic Macintosh, System 7 through OS 9, compatible with 68k and PPC.

Text messaging, voice chat, image viewing, file uploads, DMs, threads - all running on your vintage Macintosh through a relay server on your modern computer.

This is a for sale software with a 3-day trial. For more information, downloads, purchasing, bug reports & suggestions, please visit https://oldapplestuff.com/macincord/

Note about Discord TOS:

It is technically against TOS to use third-party clients, however, the app is coded to pull/match the current Discord build number and web headers so it looks as if it’s just being accessed from a modern web browser.

This, along with the fact there have been no reported bans for applications such as Discord Messenger, Ripcord and Discord Lite, makes me confident there will be no issues with using this application. Discord isn’t after people using clients that act like regular clients, they’re after the people using clients that enable spam and abuse.

More info about this is mentioned in the disclaimer on the store page.

Thanks everyone, enjoy!

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Another_mikem@reddit

So you want people to pay you to use a client banned by the TOS and risk their account? Look, it seems like you built something cool, but I can’t be the only one to be scratching my head at you trying to monetize something you shouldn’t be.

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AppendixN@reddit

Relax, if you don't want to buy it, just don't.

$15 is a McDonalds meal these days. I appreciate the creator making this. I paid a lot more for software in the 1980s, and I'm not even talking about adjusted for inflation dollars.

Not everything on the internet is free. Scroll past if you don't like it.

(Just bought it, thanks u/SDogAlex )

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Another_mikem@reddit

Or I can comment, because this is a reddit and I have concerns this is not beneficial to the retro community.

Had he chose to make a client to an open platform - that would be a completely different situation. However, he didn’t and here we are.

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AppendixN@reddit

So make your own, then. Better to light a candle than curse the darkness, after all.

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SDogAlex@reddit (OP)

I’ve done extensive research before monetization and come to the conclusion it’s safe to use third party clients that do not enable spam or abuse. Discord staff on X and Hackaday comments have said they only focus on spam/abuse clients. Monetization brings no extra risk. Be realistic, Discord isn’t gonna ban anyone for using a client on a 30 year old computer.

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Another_mikem@reddit

And yet you appear to leave your customers in the cold according to your own terms (which is comical given the product you’re selling).

The fact is, you don’t know what discord is going to 1, 3, 6 months down the road. I agree that I don’t think they will look for users using a retro client, but it’s more likely to be some big ban hammer and they get caught up in it.