Netham, with websockets there wouldn't be a need for shared memory at all. Messages could instantly be distributed to other clients when they arrive. Of course this is fundamentally different and will not work on older clients.

Yea, you'd be able to do it in one server. You could also do long polling with a custom webserver too.

Websockets cut out far too many users.

Yeah for now I use Mibbit or the site chat. When I'm not home I still use AndroIRC like before, though, since OmnomIRC takes far too many resources on my mobile device.

Also merging both Runer112 entirely and OmnomIRC together would be a cool idea, considering how many features that were added to the former.