Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru • Hacker News Board

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#11

Post by SXX » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 1:50 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #7

A thing to keep in mind that ICQ used to be insanely huge in Russia and neighboring countries. Back in late 90s people would know their own ICQ ID by heart (which are numerical) and exchange them instead of phone numbers. You also could buy vanity 4-5 digit ICQ numbers for anywhere between few hundred dollars to few thousands. Don't know if things changed now, they probably have.

ICQ now probably as popular in Russia as XMPP. Most of normal users moved over to Skype, social networks and newer message apps long ago.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#12

Post by baddestpoet » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 1:51 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #7

A thing to keep in mind that ICQ used to be insanely huge in Russia and neighboring countries. Back in late 90s people would know their own ICQ ID by heart (which are numerical) and exchange them instead of phone numbers. You also could buy vanity 4-5 digit ICQ numbers for anywhere between few hundred dollars to few thousands. Don't know if things changed now, they probably have.

Wow, this led me to discover that I also still know my ID. Before Facebook's rise in Europe around '04-'05 or so ICQ was the online communication channel of choice pretty much everywhere around here, not only in the Eastern part of the continent.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#13

Post by stevewillows » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 1:52 PM UTC

I had their support reset my password to a different email account by listing three generic names that I thought might be in my contacts list. It was great for me, but not a secure or reliable process.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#14

Post by oblio » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 1:53 PM UTC

captainmuon wrote: post #10

Is this a leak or a release? Anyway, it seems like 5-10 years too late. I remember when I was in school (till 2003) that ICQ was huge. People knew their ICQ numbers by heart, and it was as important as e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook is today. It even anticipated microblogging - you could set a custom "status message", and people would check each others messages to see what others were doing. They had a lot of features tha…

Probably the same way Yahoo did it, who also had those features and now is close to the dumpster.

Lack of focus, I guess?

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#15

Post by giarc » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 1:54 PM UTC

captainmuon wrote: post #10

Is this a leak or a release? Anyway, it seems like 5-10 years too late. I remember when I was in school (till 2003) that ICQ was huge. People knew their ICQ numbers by heart, and it was as important as e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook is today. It even anticipated microblogging - you could set a custom "status message", and people would check each others messages to see what others were doing. They had a lot of features tha…

I can still remember the "uh-oh" sound. I remember searching for and download sound boards to replace the sounds. They also had that chat window where you could actually the user typing. Nostalgia eh.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#16

Post by hias » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 2:02 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #7

A thing to keep in mind that ICQ used to be insanely huge in Russia and neighboring countries. Back in late 90s people would know their own ICQ ID by heart (which are numerical) and exchange them instead of phone numbers. You also could buy vanity 4-5 digit ICQ numbers for anywhere between few hundred dollars to few thousands. Don't know if things changed now, they probably have.

ICQ also was very popular in Europe. I still remember my ICQ uin, even after not using it anymore since the rise of facebook and whatsapp.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#17

Post by eterm » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 2:04 PM UTC

captainmuon wrote: post #10

Is this a leak or a release? Anyway, it seems like 5-10 years too late. I remember when I was in school (till 2003) that ICQ was huge. People knew their ICQ numbers by heart, and it was as important as e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook is today. It even anticipated microblogging - you could set a custom "status message", and people would check each others messages to see what others were doing. They had a lot of features tha…

Desktop software always had a friction that the web didn't.

Desktop software was fine, until you were in an internet cafe, at a friend's house, or most importantly, at work, where computers were locked down.

You couldn't use msn messenger at work, you could use facebook because it was just a web page.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#18

Post by jasonkostempski » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 2:13 PM UTC

giarc wrote: post #15

captainmuon wrote: post #10

Is this a leak or a release? Anyway, it seems like 5-10 years too late. I remember when I was in school (till 2003) that ICQ was huge. People knew their ICQ numbers by heart, and it was as important as e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook is today. It even anticipated microblogging - you could set a custom "status message", and people would check each others messages to see what others were doing. They had a lot of features tha…

I can still remember the "uh-oh" sound. I remember searching for and download sound boards to replace the sounds. They also had that chat window where you could actually the user typing. Nostalgia eh.

I fell asleep with ICQ running and my speakers turned way up once. 3 AM and someone decided to send me a message. That was like 15 years ago, I still freeze up a little when I hear it.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#19

Post by clw8 » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 2:16 PM UTC

captainmuon wrote: post #10

Is this a leak or a release? Anyway, it seems like 5-10 years too late. I remember when I was in school (till 2003) that ICQ was huge. People knew their ICQ numbers by heart, and it was as important as e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook is today. It even anticipated microblogging - you could set a custom "status message", and people would check each others messages to see what others were doing. They had a lot of features tha…

I seem to recall ICQ's popularity already being in free-fall by 2000. My guess would be that as former AOL users switched to local ISPs, they would download the familiar AIM instead of ICQ. Most of my ICQ friends were internet friends; everyone at school used AIM.

EDIT: according to Wikipedia, ICQ peaked in 2001.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#20

Post by elsurudo » Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 2:20 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #7

A thing to keep in mind that ICQ used to be insanely huge in Russia and neighboring countries. Back in late 90s people would know their own ICQ ID by heart (which are numerical) and exchange them instead of phone numbers. You also could buy vanity 4-5 digit ICQ numbers for anywhere between few hundred dollars to few thousands. Don't know if things changed now, they probably have.

Was popular with my circle of friends in Canada as well back in the day. Still remember my number! They also had a cool feature where you could create a "group", and you could broadcast messages to that group, etc.