I think that i can speak for DRK and XMR at this point, both don´t need encrypted IM non sense, they are currencies.
If i want to chat encrypted i use Jabber+OTR or Bitmessage, encrypted chat is useless if no one else uses it in the world.
It's an entirely new code. So yes it takes some time, but they are doing it solely on donations! That's what makes it such a good coin, a real contender for best altcoin if you ask me. Once they finish a GUI and improved blockchain (cuz it's massive atm) monero will rise alot.
And darkcoin is massively mined by fpga's, so yea, that coin and algo are goin to die slowely now.