TiK

{{Short description|Open-source client for AOL Instant Messenger}}

{{About|the instant messaging client|other uses|Tik (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox software

| author = AOL

| developer =

| released = {{Start date and age|1998|11|20}}

| ver layout =

| discontinued = yes

| latest release version = 0.90

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2001|06|25}}

| repo = {{URL|https://sourceforge.net/projects/tik/}}

| programming language = Tcl{{cite web|url=https://tik.sourceforge.net/|title=tik|access-date=January 10, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909065610/https://tik.sourceforge.net/|archive-date=September 9, 2023|quote=Note: TiK 0.83 and up requires Tcl/Tk 8.1 or up}}

| operating system = Unix-like

| service_name = AOL Instant Messenger

| genre = Instant messaging

| license = GPL-2.0-or-later

| website = {{URL|https://tik.sourceforge.net/}}

| qid = Q7799968

| language = English, German{{cite web|url=https://tik.sourceforge.net/strs/index.html|title=Alternative Languages with the TiK Strings System|access-date=January 10, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527134623/https://tik.sourceforge.net/strs/index.html|archive-date=May 27, 2018}}

| AsOf =

}}

TiK was an open source instant messaging client for the AOL Instant Messenger service, which used AOL's TOC protocol. It was written in Tcl, using the Tk GUI framework. Reportedly{{by whom|date=January 2024}}, the "T" and the "K" in TiK's name stands for "Tk", and the "i" stands for "instant messenger".

It was originally created and maintained by AOL, and the first public release, version 0.25 Beta, was made available on November 20, 1998.{{cite web|url=http://www.aim.aol.com/tik/|title=TiK Home Page |author=|date=November 20, 1998 |access-date=January 10, 2024|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981203004843/http://www.aim.aol.com/tik/|archive-date=December 3, 1998}} AOL continued to maintain TiK until the release of version 0.75 Beta on July 13, 1999.{{cite web|url=http://riffler.tcs.tufts.edu/~dkap/tik/|title=TiK Home Page|author=|date=July 13, 1999|access-date=January 10, 2024|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817160715/http://riffler.tcs.tufts.edu/~dkap/tik/|archive-date=August 17, 2000}} By December 1999, the project was abandoned by AOL and its official website had been silently removed, with a promised subsequent release having never materialized.{{cite web|url=https://tik.sourceforge.net/|title=tik|access-date=January 10, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909065610/https://tik.sourceforge.net/|archive-date=September 9, 2023|quote=Time has been tik'ing away since aol last promised to update tik (should have been done early december 1999). nothing has happened. In fact, things have only gotten worse. aol's official TiK site has been completely removed, leaving us with nothing.}} Several unofficial forks emerged to continue development and fill the vacuum left by AOL, the most prominent {{weasel inline|text=likely|date=January 2024}} being the one hosted at SourceForge. This fork, too, eventually stalled; its last release was version 0.90, in June 2001.{{cite web|url=https://tik.sourceforge.net/|title=tik|date=June 25, 2001|access-date=January 10, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909065610/https://tik.sourceforge.net/|archive-date=September 9, 2023|quote=w00t! 0.90 is finally out, as i sigh a large sigh of relief...}}

With the discontinuation of the AIM service in 2017, TiK and other AIM clients are now of primarily historical interest.