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ICQ revival

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First post, by feipoa

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What do you all think? Will it come back on its own? Should we start a trend to force it back?

I started "chatting" with Internet Relay Chat (IRC) in 1995. I believe it came bundled with my ISP, Prodigy, GNN, and CompuServe. I don't recall the order anymore. Then in about 1998, I signed up for the latest fad, ICQ, with their trademark "ut oh". There was also AIM95 that I had to use because of one person I knew who only used AIM. As the years went on, it seemed like everybody wanted a piece of the action - MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk!, etc, and ICQ seemed to have lost favour. The likely factor was competition, everybody wanting something new, and the ugly bloated client that ICQ released over the years. I don't think I bothered to install ICQ past 2002 or 2003. People gradually left AIM as well. I started using Google Talk at one point, but that was taken away from us, just like Picasa was.

I never stopped using IRC during this period and am still logged in to this day. But there is nobody on IRC and due to its BBS like interface, I don't think it will ever make a comeback. Now days, I have no idea what people are using. My wife, who works in IT, seems to have a new messenger program every few years that the company uses. So it doesn't sound like the trend has changed in this regard.

Yesturday a fellow Vogons member was complaining about the damn messenger programs and said something about ICQ. I tried installing the latest version, which is version 10, but the dumb thing wouldn't let me sign on with my UIN. It was insisting I use a phone number. My phone is from 2003 so I don't think that is what its after. I had to use an old ICQ version which let me sign on with my old 7-digit UIN. Low and behold, version 2001b still works and boy does using it bring back memories. It is a simple unoffensive interface. Unfortunately, only one of my old contacts still shows on the list. Apparently, in the past, the program stored on the computer kept track of your contacts, not the server.

So what do you think? Revival? What does everyone use these days?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 1 of 41, by Errius

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Oh yes, I remember that. I even bought a low ICQ number on fleabay for convenience. I remember some security scares which caused everyone to move to other systems. Apparently it was installing malware or something similar. It may have been FUD by the opposition, but everyone believed it.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 2 of 41, by SPBHM

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I used ICQ all the time around 99-02 probably, after a while it just died (everyone I knew migrated to MSN messenger), they tried to revive it years ago when they released an ICQ app for phones, but I don't think it gained any traction.

Reply 3 of 41, by BeginnerGuy

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I wouldn't worry about what everyone is using (because that's facebook messanger) and use what you want. Most of my friends have migrated over to Discord. The only thing that sucks for me is that besides IRC, I can't really connect to anything my friends use anymore via pidgin/xmpp, so it's becoming difficult to talk to people from retro machines and I'm forced to walk across the room or pull out my android (which I don't really like using) to chat.

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 4 of 41, by tayyare

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I was also an enthisuastic IRC user back in the days (1996-1999) and was also following a few news groups, but it died (for me) around early 2000 I guess. Almost never used ICQ, had a very short episode with MSN, used Skype again for a short period (contacting family members) and that is all about it. Still using facebook messaging from time to time, but it is really becoming less and less frequent.

It's all whatsapp today (started about a couple of years ago when a friend of mine created a group for us, highschool friends - that is the time I've been forced into to start using a smart phone intead of my old and reliable Nokia).

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Reply 5 of 41, by DracoNihil

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Isn't ICQ still popular in Russia and several other European nations?

also:

BeginnerGuy wrote:

Most of my friends have migrated over to Discord. The only thing that sucks for me is that besides IRC, I can't really connect to anything my friends use anymore via pidgin/xmpp,

If you don't mind risking your entire Discord account being supposedly "permanently banned" there's third party clients and a pidgin plugin for Discord support.

Or you could just demand your friends to stop jumping on dumb bandwagons all the time.

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Reply 6 of 41, by Tronix

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DracoNihil wrote:

Isn't ICQ still popular in Russia

No, ICQ was popular in ~2000-2005. Last years people use The Telegram and WhatsApp...

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Reply 7 of 41, by jheronimus

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DracoNihil wrote:

Isn't ICQ still popular in Russia and several other European nations?

I remember reading somewhere a couple of years ago that they have around 10-15 million monthly active users. Basically, they've implemented video calls and have been some kind of a Skype alternative for a lot of users.

But I can confirm that it's been years since I've seen anyone use ICQ as a regular messenger here.

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Reply 8 of 41, by Dominus

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feipoa wrote:

What do you all think? Will it come back on its own? Should we start a trend to force it back?
...
So what do you think? Revival? What does everyone use these days?

It's proven time and time again that technology often takes a glorious return when users on forums work together to bring it back!!!
NOT!

It's days are over, people use stuff that they can use on their phones. Primarily on their phones, or WhatsApp could not have become as popular as it is. ICQ's days are sooo over that people don't even remember their icq number 😀

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Reply 9 of 41, by Gered

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I can't see ICQ making any kind of comeback (but I personally am ready to jump on that train should it ever leave the station ...). I've been using the "uh oh" sound as my phone's notification sound (email, text, etc) for many years now. 😀

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Reply 10 of 41, by Errius

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I just installed the client and was able to log in. All my old contacts are still there from c. 2003 though the conversations are gone. Everybody is "Seen a long time ago" except for one guy who logged in in March 2018.

Is there a way of getting a more specific date than "Seen a long time ago"? I'm curious to know when these people dropped out.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 11 of 41, by feipoa

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Which version did you install? I wasn't able to add people via UIN with the latest version (version 10). Version 8 I think was OK for this, but I'm personally sticking with 2001b.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 13 of 41, by Mister Xiado

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ICQ is full of scumware since Mirabilis went away. I used it for a few minutes, years back, after that Russian company took it over, and my old friend list was still there, though almost everybody on it is dead now. Then I had to spend some time purging its BS from the computer. SMS and omnipresent access to email pretty much replaced instant messaging, not to mention Skype and other services providing one-stop-communication-shops. I found a Discord server that isn't full of deviant perverts and creeps (I know, sounds unbelievable), so I don't have much reason to get back into IRC, despite Discord being a honeypot data mining operation. The ability to embed images makes it more convenient to talk about tech than most other means, especially with personal websites being largely a thing of the past.

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Reply 14 of 41, by feipoa

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Errius wrote:

I just installed the current version client and logged on with my old number/password. No problems.

Try adding people with version 10 based on their UIN.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 15 of 41, by SteveC

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Ha just logged into ICQ, guessed my old password and I'm in. The only ID I could find that I used to use (love Google!) not that low though at 29468849 - I've most likely not logged in since 1999 or 2000 and the contact list has sent me right back!

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Reply 16 of 41, by Jo22

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You guys make me feel young.. 😁
My friends and me used ICQ when Slide-a-lama and video chat were around..

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Reply 17 of 41, by chinny22

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Still got my ICQ login details even though I didn't use it often even back then.
My ICQ number is 7119xxx and was later then most my friends at the time, but then they all seemed to create new accounts over time and I had one of the lower numbers

(I have no idea if anything bad can happen if I post the entire number, especially as its all but dead and I have no intention of using it again, but if it does come back from the dead it would be cool to still have it!)

Reply 18 of 41, by feipoa

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I also have a 7-digit number, but it starts with a 2. Cannot seem to search for users based on UIN anymore. The servers cannot seem to handle offline messages anymore, and using different versions between people seem to cause some problems. I guess the UIN numbers were becoming ridiculously long so they abandoned them. I think a revival is all but impossible. I don't know how they can afford to keep the servers running - well, I guess they don't take up much bandwidth these days.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.