Phase 3 is planned to be started in 1.9, which is the next devel branch after the long overdue 1.8 stable release. it could easily take up to 2 years to get a 2.0 stable out. Even that is subject to change and is not written in stone. So please don't take it as an official claim I as everyone on the team will deny it.
Personally, live sql services will not save IRC, there are already live sql services and IRC is still dying. Also, there is nothing easier about going to a web page and filling out 4 pieces of info than typing out 4 words on IRC.
What is killing IRC is the lack of official, scalable protocols and the fact that any left handed monkey can call themselves an "IRC Admin". there are people on this forum that literally learn what IRC is at 8am and by 3pm are running an ircd and services and calling themselves a Net Admin and when you try to help these people ant tell them they should learn IRC first you get yelled at and called rude, cruel and blamed for patronizing them for it. So the older, wiser and more experienced admins that DO know what they are doing tend to feel ungrateful and they stop helping users and either drop off of IRC altogether or find some quiet network and are never heard from again and all these young punks that think they know it all learn a few tricks and start writing their own ircds thinking they are experts just because they know how to code in C. Which has nothing to do with IRC.
Anyway, that's enough babbling from me, I'm just going to go back to my quiet hole now.
