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Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

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Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#21

Post by zeeZ »

baddestpoet wrote: post #12
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.

Took me a while, but I managed to remember it. Along with the (unique) password. It shows 143 contacts, of which 1 is actually online. From skimming through the names I have no idea who more than half of those people are, the rest are family and local friends who I still have contact with.

Contact spreadsheets for teens in Germany back then contained name, address, phone number, email address and ICQ number. We didn't even have a MySpace back then ;)

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#22

Post by glastra »

eterm wrote: post #17
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.

There were plenty of web-based MSN Messenger clients.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#23

Post by sergioocon »

stevewillows wrote: post #13

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.

I don't even remember what people I had in my contact lists.... I haven't talked in years to some I do remember

Time to open a new account?

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#24

Post by marxidad »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #8
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.

They have, people moved to VK for messenging en masse when it hit, and whatsapp/viber is definitely used too. No idea if many people are still on ICQ. Don't bother to find client to check.

It's just Russian bots now.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#28

Post by taneq »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #18
giarc wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I had something similar just after I moved out of home for the first time. ICQ running, speakers still on from the music I'd been playing before, late at night. Someone logged on. Huge loud KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK sound. Just about gave myself a coronary!

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#29

Post by frandroid »

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.

The cash register at my favourite health food store uses the "uh-oh" sound. To this day it remains one of the most annoying sounds I've ever heard, and it will not leave my life.

Re: Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru

#30

Post by dspillett »

glastra wrote: post #22
eterm wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There were plenty of web-based MSN Messenger clients.

But you needed to know about them ahead of time, or search for and pick one on the spot, and rely on it to be stable/reliable (and actively supported or it would fail next time the protocol was tweaked as seemed to happen often if the release cycle of MSN plugins for pidgin were representative), and trust an extra 3rd party with your conversations.

Just using an IM arrangement that natively supports web based access, which it has some disadvantages, was much simpler for most people.

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