If I've never used ICQ before, can anyone tell me how it differed from other chat apps?
It was essentially the first mass-market instant messaging app
ICQ will stop working from June 26
541–550 of 776 posts
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#542I just logged in with my 20 year old password. I see many contacts that I no longer keep in touch. Uh oh!
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#543I went on a few dates by randomly messaging people with girl-sounding names in the city I lived in. It took some work, but way less than getting to a night club. I'd always do that before visiting a new city... And sometimes had a date lined up by the time I arrived.
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#544Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, yes, just a client, but for me it was the first interface to whole new world, so I will never forget it.
slaps you with a trout
I was reminded of that when analysing the Skype (now Teams) protocol and found that one of the domains it uses was trouter.io.
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#545I will forever treasure my ICQ memories. The sounds it made. The moving image when it was connecting. Listening in Winamp to one of only a few dozen possible songs that I had carefully downloaded. Being able to randomly connect to people you would filter. Yes, I want to talk to someone more or less my age but in Iceland. Or any other country. But most of all, the feeling of being connected. As a teenager in the autis…
First thought: I had assumed ICQ was long dead. It seemed impossible anything from that era could still be running. IRC is of course, through the grace of an ecosystem, but it is a tiny fraction of what it was. Second thought: how do people randomly connect to talk now? Comments sections mostly? I have long ago stopped seeking new connections of any variety.
In one of those random connections, I met my wife through ICQ.
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#546I will never forget my 5 digit ICQ number and how cool it made me feel in the early 2000s
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#547I will never forget my 5 digit ICQ number and how cool it made me feel in the early 2000s
5 digits? early 2000s? Does not compute...
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#548Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, did I mix it up with MSN then, or maybe early Skype? Or did this possibly happen after the OSCAR migration? I vividly remember being amazed by offline delivery in Jabber, so at least one of ICQ or MSN must have not had it for me to even notice.
It was MSN. I remember when MSN arrived late to the game, and managed to get users anyway, despite not having such an obvious feature, that the incumbent had.
The obvious feature was that ICQ was bloated and MSN wasn't while also MSN coming preinstalled with Windows.
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#549This makes me sad. I mean, I haven't logged in in about 20 years now, and couldn't if I wanted to (don't have the password or access to the email address). But I had a low five digit user number, and built a lot of relationships on ICQ (some of which continue today!). It was my main method of electronic communication in college. I had romantic relationships live and die on ICQ. Another reminder of how things change o…
I remember the music/sound when ICQ used to load up. The logo was brilliant. Nostalgia. Circa 1999-2001 when I used it heavily. Best part though: finding strangers and becoming online friends with many of them (without worrying about scams etc).
I found my (ex)wife on ICQ, or rather she found me.
Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26
#550This makes me sad. I mean, I haven't logged in in about 20 years now, and couldn't if I wanted to (don't have the password or access to the email address). But I had a low five digit user number, and built a lot of relationships on ICQ (some of which continue today!). It was my main method of electronic communication in college. I had romantic relationships live and die on ICQ. Another reminder of how things change o…
4125222 I still remember it but not the pass
26446199, iirc. I remember the pass but not used in ages, I would have to bust out Pidgin or something...