ICQ Starts Blocking Alternative Clients

An anonymous reader writes "It appears that since yesterday ICQ has blocked access to the ICQ network to alternative clients. Users of QIP, Adium, and other clients are getting a 'The client version you are using is too old. Please upgrade'. No comment yet from ICQ or AOL."

Comments

IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

In other news... people still use ICQ?

Re:IC what?

[urbanriot]

Yes, ICQ is still big in China (Oicq) and Russia. Consider that the IM to first and fully support a character set will probably get the widest use, not to mention Oicq was fully integrated into cell phones long ago.

Re:IC what?

[ya really]

ICQ...the perferred IM client for Russian and Chinese crackers/criminals. Seriously.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously. The last time I used ICQ, I remember my geeky friend named Devin inviting me over to his house. We were talking about the hot new character on the current Star Trek show named Seven of Nine.

So, for what it's worth, if ICQ reminds me of Jeri Ryan... it can't be that bad, right?

Re:IC what?

[sakdoctor]

QQ dominates the IM market in China.
OICQ was a rip-off of ICQ but was never compatible or even the same network as ICQ.

Re:IC what?

[gilesjuk]

Just like I'm sure there's people running old DOS apps I'm sure someone still uses ICQ. Of course they'll most likely be using an official client.

I stopped using ICQ about 2003, the spammers started to use it more.

Still, it was notable for having offline messages long before MSN and AIM did.

Re:IC what?

[residieu]

I still have my client connect to my ICQ account out of habit. I miss the good old days of ICQ when you could leave the "talk to a random person" feature on.

Re:IC what?

[yincrash]

This is also a nonstory. The fix is just incrementing the version number on what is reported to OSCAR.

Re:IC what?

[NeoSkandranon]

When were those? I got in on ICQ pretty early, and upon turning that feature on got immediately solicited/trolled.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, every day.

One feature I still love about ICQ is that it allows me to leave offline messages for people that they get when they login, even if I've gone offline by then. I know MSN still doesn't support that - not sure about the other networks.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

QQ dominates the IM market in China.

bunch of cry babies

Re:IC what?

[PIBM]

well, I had not used it in a while, so I fired up my old pidgin client and I can connect just fine.

Yep, it's working.

Re:IC what?

[Achra]

I remember those days also. Long gone. My ICQ # was 8 digits, beginning with 117 - so, not exactly a founding member.. But ICQ certainly used to be the only messenger. This was 2001, I think.

Re:IC what?

[Veritas1980]

How would I do this using Pidgin?

Re:IC what?

[c6gunner]

My ICQ # was 8 digits, beginning with 117 - so, not exactly a founding member

7 digits, starting with 596 :) Take that!

Re:IC what?

[langedb]

My ICQ # was 8 digits, beginning with 117 - so, not exactly a founding member

7 digits, starting with 596 :) Take that!

7 digits starting with 580

Re:IC what?

[Deuxsonic]

Just upgrade Pidgin to the latest version and everything will work fine.

Re:IC what?

[CastrTroy]

I only stayed signed on to ICQ because I could, without opening another client. I have been using Pidgin, and I figured, why not, It's not like I have to open another program. If I have to install the official version of ICQ just to use it, I won't use it. That being said, ICQ was miles ahead of MSN (the current defacto standard among my contacts). I figure the reason it lost out, is because MSN came already installed on all windows computers. I wish ICQ wouldn't have died. It's truly a better system.

Re:IC what?

[theskunkmonkey]

6 digits starting with a 1

Re:IC what?

[Sir_Real]

Every PHB in the office uses it... So yeah, that means everyone else uses it too... On the other hand, if my boss wants to get a hold of me, he now has to send an email or sign up for a google talk account. Luckily, after our last battle over allowing me to choose my own OS, he is quite aware that I am absolutely the type of asshole who would quit over being forced to use a specific chat client.

This is just epically stupid. Are they trying to make themselves irrelevant?

Re:IC what?

[mrsteveman1]

I beat all of you, my ICQ consists entirely of the batman symbol and the symbol for the artist formerly known as prince, alternating.

Re:IC what?

[AceofSpades19]

5 digits starting with a zero

Re:IC what?

[Xiph1980]

No idea what my first number was again, but first used it in '97. Forgot the pass one day after some time of not using it, probably a holiday orso, and started a new account. That one was with 8 numbers, starting with 314. Haven't used it since they started the lite account, and didn't update the 2003b for ages.

Re:IC what?

[Blakey Rat]

I wish ICQ wouldn't have died. It's truly a better system.

I always resent being numbered. (And yes, when Slashdot numbers me, it bothers the hell out of me too.) The greatest advantage AIM and MSN have over ICQ is that you refer to people as either a handle or their email address, not a number. At least, IMO.

Re:IC what?

[D Ninja]

QQ dominates the IM market in China.

Funny. QQ also dominates many of the Blizzard WoW forums as well.

Re:IC what?

[autocracy]

I used to be 181xxxxx, but somehow I lost control of that number. I became 258xxxxx. Thought I never use the accounts, those numbers will probably be in my head 'til I die. I'm pretty sure your numbers are more circa 1998. I definitely got my 181 pre-millennium.

Re:IC what?

[LilGuy]

That was my first thought. I haven't used ICQ since AOL was the only available ISP in my area some 14 - 15 years ago.

I ditched it in favor of some newer IM programs that cut down on the amount of spam you received by requiring "friends" to be added before messaging.

Re:IC what?

[Tritoch]

Yes, ICQ is still big in China (Oicq) and Russia...

So when the invasion happens, we Americans will have to start using ICQ again? Noooooooooooooo!

Re:IC what?

[yincrash]

if you don't want to download the newest version of pidgin, this bug report lists what byte you can edit in liboscar.dll (or just download the patched liboscar.dll) http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/6220

Re:IC what?

[BlueStrat]

Three digits, starting with a '6'.

"Please allow me to introduce myself...

I'm a man of wealth and taste..."

[collective gasp]

C'mon, c'mon! Just kiddin!

Cheers!

Strat

Re:IC what?

[CastrTroy]

The problem with MSN, is that they make it quite difficult to sign up with your actual email address, so 98% of people sign up for a hotmail address just to get on MSN. And then your contacts start sending you email at that address, even though you never check it. I would much rather be a number, and be able to change my email address in my info, rather than have my IM tied to my email address, in the case where I would want to switch email addresses. Many people use email addresses from their ISP, it would be quite annoying if you had to redo all your IM stuff simply because you switched ISPs. I don't have a problem with being a number. It has worked fine with phone numbers.

Re:IC what?

[dtml-try MyNick]

It always boggled me why people stopped using it. In my experience it was the best im arround. For the less demanding user it was simple to set up and easy to use but there also were tons of features for the "poweruser". I really loved that client.

Now everyone and his dog are using msn messenger (at least here in europe) and thus I was basicly was forced to make that move. But for me msn doesnt even come close to icq.

Re:IC what?

[byolinux]

Passport.com ftw.

Never had a hotmail.

Re:IC what?

[urbanriot]

Also 6 digits starting with 11. I've long since forgotten my smaller number, which was a year newer and possibly 5 digits (if they had it; memory sketchy).

Re:IC what?

[jcr]

ICQ is irrelevant. It will be absorbed.

-jcr

Re:IC what?

[Blakey Rat]

I dunno, I just plugged in my Gmail address (and previously my address at a domain I own) and I've had zero problems. In fact, all my "Passport" services, including things like Xbox Live, are under my Gmail address and I've never gotten any grief over it.

In short, I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about.

Re:IC what?

[CastrTroy]

Well, if you go to passport.com, the first option is to create a hotmail address. Most users won't go past that. It seems to be a lot easier to get a passport for a non-hotmail address than it used to be. I rememer when I signed up for msn messenger, that it was very difficult to sign up under a different address. Either way, it's still tied to a specific email address. Which seems to be a bad thing if you ever want to change your email address.

Re:IC what?

[gid]

Supposedly the only 5 digit icq numbers are for Admins. Myself and about 3 friends all have 6 digits, but everyone of them stopped using it, and use aim or gtalk now. Just logged in with mine and it still works, but only 1 friend is online... heh.

Re:IC what?

[lilomar]

99501, please report to central for re-education.

Re:IC what?

[Hurricane78]

> by requiring "friends" to be added before messaging.

That functionality was in ICQ since the very first version.
It's simple to kow your character by your choice of messenger-client:
- ICQ: Pro, uses IM since the very beginning. Most likely uses a multi-protocol client, because not all of his friends are pros, Likes the ICQ network because he's used to have everything and configure everything.
- AIM: Too stupid for a real messenger. Does think there's no use for a history or offline-messages becase he never could use them. Allows a maximum of three words per message.
- MSN: Lazy default user. Uses IE and whatever came with his computer. Has yet to send a message without at least one of his thousand animated smilies in it.
- IRC: Geek who thinks messengers are just bad IRC clones and IRC is already perfect. Lost his best friend because he sent him a html-mail wich even contained an image. This was too much for him.
- Y!M: Huh? What? Yahoo has a messenger? Okay, I only know one girl there, so I can't tell...
- Jabber / Google Talk: Either someone between the geeky IRC-user and the pro-ICQ-user who upgraded to newer and freer (is that a word?) technologies, or a Mac-user who happens to design websites for a living.
Okay, and there are users who choose their client/network by peer pressure.

Go on! Prove me wrong! (Meaning that more than 25% of the users don't fit my statements. One singe example proves nothing. ;)

P.S.: If you now want to scream that I have a bias, read up some stuff about physics, human sensors and the brain, and then realize that your "non-biased-information" just happens to match your own bias. ;)

P.P.S.: I use Miranda under Wine, connected to IRC, ICQ, Jabber, AIM and MSN... Go figure...

Re:IC what?

[Thaelon]

Try 7234534. 7-2345-34. Notice the unlikely four sequential digits? Easier to remember than my phone number to this day.

I signed up back in 1998 or so. And then of course lost the password somewhere around 2000. :-/

Re:IC what?

[Cobaltqube]

Same here.. Back in the day.. Mine was 105XXX I should fire it up and see what it is like now.. it's been yrs tho.. Qube

Re:IC what?

[dysfunct]

Yes, people still do. ICQ is my primary IM network and most people I know have been using it since early 2000, give or take a couple of years.

Back then, there weren't many IM networks around, the ICQ client was pretty good and advanced, AOL/AIM didn't have much of a market here in Europe, MSN didn't exist or wasn't installed by default and YIM came too late to the game. ICQ became the dominant instant messenger around here and most people just stuck with it. It was also IIRC the first IM protocol to be reverse engineered properly and became a favorite of the local Linux users (licq is IMHO still one of the best ICQ clients out there).

ICQ is also pretty comfortable because it seems to be used mostly among people of my age group, while all the annoying teens I wouldn't want to talk to anyway have migrated over to MSN. Apparently, it's also very popular in Russia.

Re:IC what?

[king0lag]

I believe you mean "The artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as prince." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_(musician)#2000.E2.80.932005

Re:IC what?

[Fallon]

That wouldn't be me would it?

Re:IC what?

[WatcherXP]

127XXX here

Re:IC what?

[HAKdragon]

Both AIM and Yahoo Messenger have support for offline messages.

Re:IC what?

[Fistacious]

I haven't used ICQ since Ultima Online was hot.

Re:IC what?

[Zemran]

I have Yahoo and random people come onto my account all the time saying "Hi, check out this site"... I have to work out why they always have a string of random letters whited out but it helps me spot them.

Re:IC what?

[azzuth]

In soviet russia Q seeks U.

Re:IC what?

[afidel]

Well, my original account was 4 digits, but those accounts no longer exist because they lost the database with the first 10,000 accounts and had to start over at 10,000. I have the data files showing activity on that account on a backup CD somewhere =)

Re:IC what?

[trickonion]

....
email...?

Re:IC what?

[Blakey Rat]

You can change your email address, too. You can also link multiple Passport accounts (under different email addresses) into a single Passport account. That came in handy, since the first time I registered for MSN Gaming Zone I didn't know I was making another Passport, and chose a different email addy. (Would be nice if Open ID had those features.)

Re:IC what?

[Zemran]

I just had to look to find out what my number was and my account still exists... although it thinks that I live in England and I left there 5 years ago. Way to keep a full userbase...

Re:IC what?

[BenBenBen]

I tried to sell one of my 6 digit ICQ numbers (begins 247) on eBay a few years back, and AOL pulled the auction under VeRO ('We own this 6 digit number!') - but now I've learned that ICQ is big in Russia... Hmmm, might have to try again...

I signed up in early '96 FWIW. I have 14 dictionary-word gmail accounts too, to leave to my hypothetical grandchildren :)

Re:IC what?

[bpsbr_ernie]

It's big in Germany also, or so says my exchange student...

Re:IC what?

[Talderas]

Less QQ and more pew pew.

Re:IC what?

[Kabal`]

I never understood it either. I got ICQ in 97 (6 digit number) but I think all my friends started to swap to MSN, or use it for IM for the first time, around 2001. At the time I was like - what the hell. I mean it didn't even have offline messaging, and still didn't until maybe 2 years ago. I never did see the reason for the switch - I presume it was simply because Windows XP started to come with Windows Messenger by default, and people were just discovering IM. And if you know a lot of people on a certain protocol, you start using that one.

Remember the 'talk to random people' function? Haha, I don't think you could ever get away with that these days. Anyone know if that is still a feature?

Re:IC what?

[CelticWhisper]

Absorbed?

Assimilated. Sweet Jesus, man...I'm not even a Trekkie and I know that.

The gentlemen at the door will be taking your geek card. Open enrollment is in 2 months, you may reapply then.

Re:IC what?

[Macthorpe]

MSN Messenger has supported it since it changed to Windows Live Messenger, if not before that.

Re:IC what?

[camperdave]

Maybe he's using Landru?

Re:IC what?

[lsolano]

When did it resurrect ?

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Devin was never a Star Trek fan, but he gloats over his 8-digit ICQ number to this day.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Devin was never a Star Trek fan, but he gloats over his 8-digit ICQ number to this day.

That's funny. 'Back in the day' I remember people actually using the phrase "ICQ is like the phone but for text messaging. you even get a 7 digit icq number just like the phone!", and i was very confused since my ICQ number was 6 digits.

But to make up for it, I have a 7 digit slashdot id to replace the 6 digit one i lost my password to :(

Re:IC what?

[Ced_Ex]

Mine was 6 digits long and started with 999XXX... so I was in before a million!

For some reason, my password no longer works and I've never associated an email address with the account, so I may be locked out forever...

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

1 digit starting with a zero BIIIIIIIIIITCH

Re:IC what?

[CastrTroy]

So if I had a passport account linked to a hotmail.com email address, and I changed it to a different email address, would all my MSN contacts still have me on their list, even though my hotmail.com email address was no longer attached to that passport, and they used the hotmail email to register me on their list?

Re:IC what?

[shutdown -p now]

It's not really tied to an email address - it uses the email as an identifier, but you can change the actual address for password confirmation etc. Email I've used to register there originally is long gone now, but it still works for me, and uses my current GMail address just fine, though I still have to enter the old email as login.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

How old is your Pidgin?
Pidgin 2.4.2 got kicked off with message, suggested upgrade to 2.4.3 (only available from source build for now).

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember some pretty heavy battle for UINs 666 and 69.

Re:IC what?

[genner]

but but they nerfed me again and they didn't nerf the classes I hate hard enough.

Re:IC what?

[n3tcat]

it's used widely here in germany.

Re:IC what?

[KangKong]

127001?

Re:IC what?

[Blakey Rat]

I don't know. I changed other accounts to match my existing MSN Messenger account, so I can't answer that.

Re:IC what?

[tighr]

Mine is similar: 4552334. 7 digit number starting with 455, I think I picked it up sometime around 96/97.

Don't use it very often, but it still works and even has some of my old database info stored in it.

Re:IC what?

[morcego]

Working (as) flawlessly (as possible) with pidgin 2.1.1 here. Just tried.

What is all this fuss about ? Maybe people are really using old versions and the server is right ?

Oh ? You mean ICQ server are refusing your 5 years old client ? Shocking.

Re:IC what?

[Slime-dogg]

A 5-digit /. ID grants you the equivalent of diplomatic immunity.

Re:IC what?

[jcr]

I'm not even a Trekkie and I know that.

Yeah, I know it too. It was one of those "oh crap, I already hit the submit button" moments.

-jcr

Re:IC what?

[jcr]

That would sure come in handy if I have occasion to travel to China.

-jcr

Re:IC what?

[mrmeval]

I still have my old number and a few friends use it. I also use it when aol are being assholes and not letting my regular nick on.

Re:IC what?

[mrmeval]

Adsorbed really. It will be surrounded by all the particulate matter from aol's various orifices and overwhelmed.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

it now works with pidgin 2.4.3.
sure ICQ sucks but some people just wont get off that broken ass protocol.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

So when the invasion happens, we Americans will have to start using ICQ again? Noooooooooooooo!

"Uh oh!"

Re:IC what?

[Baloo Ursidae]

ICQ is irrelevant. It will be absorbed.

Or obsoleted. Oh, wait, that already happened!

Re:IC what?

[Baloo Ursidae]

Not true. I abandoned UIN 57134 when IETF selected Jabber as the official internet IM protocol years ago.

Re:IC what?

[Baloo Ursidae]

Why not use Jabber instead? If you don't want to run your own server, there's always GMail, Livejournal Talk, Jabber.org, or if you have a domain name, Google for Domains....

Re:IC what?

[Christophotron]

7 digits starting with 165. i log in to keep the account active but i haven't actually used ICQ in about ten years :)

Re:IC what?

[Capt. Cautious]

Well,I used an old ICQ (2003b) client and had no trouble logging into ICQ. However, when I switched to pidgin (Pidgin 2.4.1) it said that the client was too old and to update at the pidgin update site. nothing about ICQ6. I think ICQ may end up regretting this. Hum...very interesting ( thumb and forefinger sweep down on point of beard). Capt. Cautious

Re:IC what?

[llefler]

How old is your Pidgin?

Mine says it is 2.0.2, and appears to be working.

Re:IC what?

[gullevek]

you the funny thing is. I forgot my old phone numbers back in my old country. But my freaking ICQ number which I never see, and never give out I still remember.

and hell yeah, I still use ICQ :) thought 99.9% is just to talk to one person.

Re:IC what?

[enoz]

That is certainly news to me. Do any of the third-party clients support this feature for MSN?

Re:IC what?

[ins0m]

Really? I started college in the fall of '97 and picked up 3789729 then.

And a "me too" to keeping the account active for nostalgia's sake. I've pretty much lost everyone on my list and get the occasional spam, but you never know who'll pop up one day.

Re:IC what?

[zsau]

I used to have an MSN account signed up to a yahoo mail account, which I'd stopped using for various reasons (mostly spam). But people sent me email to that account and I never got it, so I got a new MSN account on my new yahoo address and switched. About six months after I'd finally managed to convince everyone I'd changed accounts, I'd decided I'd had enough spam and stopped checking that yahoo account. Excellent! Nowadays no-one ever sends me email anyway, so the spam doesn't matter.

Re:IC what?

[Rakarra]

Yup, every since I upgraded to Fedora 9, neither pidgin nor licq can connect to the ICQ network anymore. Pidgin can sign on using the AIM protocol though, and if I send a message to an ICQ number, it will go through and I can chat.

The networks are merged, but the recent clients can't chat using the new protocol. licq 1.3.5 says "Unknown signon error: 0x1c" and pidgin 2.4.2 says "The client version you are using is too old. Please upgrade at http://pidgin.im/"

Re:IC what?

[Wiseleo]

Yeah, I talk to random people. They find me based on my data. I don't think the pure random feature exists anymore, at least not in my client (ICQ 6.0, build 6059). I remember it in version 96a.

I just logged in, 28 people added me in the last 7 hours.

Hell, I went on dates with random users when it was big in USA. :)

1930499 is my UIN

Most of my contacts are either from former USSR or China.

You may say "The communists choose ICQ!"

Re:IC what?

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

It's simple. The business, Actually existing, in the IM Market is about three things: Client, Network, References.

If you are a small network, growing up, you let people get in your network from any client.

If you are a big network well stablished, you block other clients so you get people to use your client (that's adds or other revenue maybe) and that gets people to talk about you, and you get referenced.

If you are a once big network, now shrinking, you have to be smart and think a new strategy. AIM did something good: They merged with ICQ. ICQ is going the stupid way and forcing you from time to time to use their client, just so you remember they exist (If you have Pidgin and ICQ is just another account with some friends on it, you forget you are using ICQ alltoghether.) That's stupid, 'cause it'll eventually force the remaining people out of your network.

No IM network made a smart move yet. The smart move is:

- Set up a good, fast, stable network.
- Make it open and easy so that 3rd party clients can connect easily.
- Integrate it with a good WebMail
- Create a GREAT Client, that's multiplatform(Win, Mac, Unix) and that has also a web version and a mobile version. Make that client Multiprotocol.
- Add cool features like VoIP, Camera, SMSs, Single logon, browser extensions, etc,etc,etc.
- Bind all of this to a good portal, with exclusivce content and other shit for users of the system.

Let me tell you, everyone will be using it. It's not very different from Jabber, but if you made such a plug for ICQ instead of for an OpenSource project, every asshole using AIM would be on it.

Re:IC what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny, but not quite.
More likely your old client is, dare I say, forward compatible? lol

screencap:

http://www.blatodea.com/_images/pidgin.png

Re:IC what?

[RockDoctor]

So when the invasion happens, we Americans will have to start using ICQ again? Noooooooooooooo!

Yes, several people will be assigned (working shifts) to hold a gun to your head and force you to communicate by ICQ. Your guards will not allow you to use any other medium of communication, including speech, telepathy, hand signals or Morse code transmitted by sequential firing of anti-aircraft nukes.
[Speaks a person who has probably exchanged a couple of hundred characters by any "chat" protocol in the 21st century, and a similar quantity in the 1980s, but none to the best of my recall in the 1990s. Chat, Schmat.]

Re:IC what?

[lanc]

you can fix your liboscar.so.0.0.0 with hexedit too - a single hexvalue edit is needed - depending on your distro/libpurple package version. On debian lenny it is 0x2cd00, changing 0A to 0B - so icq works again with pidgin 2.4.2 without update too - TYVM AOL for changing the requirements once again.

Re:IC what?

[RiotingPacifist]

they dont even bother with URLS and they're not exactly going to pass the turning test any time soon.

ken...s25:Â Gotta Sec nwbmv
rio...ist:Â Yes i do actually, hello.
ken...s25:Â qiqwtHey rioting_pacifist, how r u?fgyab
rio...ist:Â Im ok thx you?
ken...s25:Â ohbgcdo u remember me?qjrgjndxtp
rio...ist:Â Yeah, i sleep wth your mum.
ken...s25:Â iyszuit's, Amanda!vtihiokcxs
rio...ist:Â Yeah and your younger sister.
ken...s25:Â lvyklhey ÂU lookin' for a date sometime this week?dvumbwe can meet somewhere close by ;)dpouykmidm
rio...ist:Â Actually im sort of busy with all the monther/sister fucking.
ken...s25:Â fntnihere is my pic Âhttp://www.%68o%6fk%2dup%73-%72%2d%75%73%2eco%6d do u think i'm cute? uptogfjepc znwgx
rio...ist:Â No, your ugly as fuck, thats why im sleeping with your sister & mum.
ken...s25:Â czfuncheck out my profile 4 my contact info http://www.hook-ups-r-us.com/ tslbjsjjbe whxee
rio...ist:Â Its ok i know where you live, due to being round there screwwing your relatives.
ken...s25:Â emkmmtake a look @ my profile http://www.adulthook-ups.net/ pyedwdueew envon
rio...ist:Â Are you the one with the penis?
ken...s25:Â xstqhtake a look @ my profile http://www.hook-ups-r-us.com/ bbgqfzgqjq ousuj
rio...ist:Â I just did, you have a penis!!!
ken...s25:Â eicqntake a look @ my profile http://www.hook-ups-r-us.com/ brthchyffr xuoad
rio...ist:Â Not again, my eyes! i feal like gouging them out with a spork.

unfortunatly slashdot decodes the URLs because they are normalling in the stupid %6f form

Re:IC what?

[RiotingPacifist]

i dont think so it is pencilled in for telepathy but thats a while away tbh

Re:IC what?

[RiotingPacifist]

what are you on, 98% sign up for hotmail to get on msn just means 98% of people dont know what they're doing/ want an @hotmail.com address, i simply registerd an email for a domain i owned at the time and ive had no problems, Im not even sure if this possible with other IM systems so i quite like this feature of msn

Re:IC what?

[CDMA_Demo]

AOL will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

Re:IC what?

[pfuffdaddy]

odd, I got the "Old Client Version" message with Pidgin 2.4.2, but it went away with 2.4.3. But, then again, so did my ICQ account since I don't use it anymore anyway.

Re:IC what?

[MikeFM]

I've had an ICQ account for about a million years and why would I switch when nobody has yet started offering a better service?

Actually I have accounts with all major IM systems. Why would I stop using any of them while I still know other people that use them?

Re:IC what?

[gid]

Weird, according to icq that account no longer exists: http://www.icq.com/people/about_me.php?uin=57134

When I plug in my uin it works. Maybe old, inactive accounts are deleted?

Re:IC what?

[Hurricane78]

Yet you can't prove it wrong. :P
As long as that's the case, I have what i want.

Re:IC what?

[adonisv1]

6 digits starts at 184XXX

Re:IC what?

[Walter Carver]

Heh... I wish I could get your joke :) I am not a WoW player, maybe that's why I didn't got it :-P

Re:IC what?

[aliquis]

Preferably. MSN suck, close to noone uses jabber, not everyone are on IRC.

But then kind of noone else use ICQ longer. I've removed lots of people due to their choice of using MSN. I guess that makes me a very lonely person.

Miranda still working.

[urbanriot]

No problems here using Miranda IM. (http://www.miranda-im.org/)

Re:Miranda still working.

[Shinobi]

Confirmed, Miranda works for me too

Heh, read the headline and went "Wtf?"

Re:Miranda still working.

[dunkelfalke]

happened with miranda a couple of times already so i think it is just the matter of time.

Re:Miranda still working.

[Anonymous Coward]

The summary is wrong. They don't block alternative clients but an old version of the protocol. Alternative clients that emulate the current version are fine.

Re:Miranda still working.

[misterhypno]

That's because ICQ has been read it's Miranda Rights!

ICQ is still around? Wow

[multipartmixed]

That said, the forum thread is interesting. Looks like the ICQ admins are censoring posts.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[distr0]

not for long, they just lost 12 of their 14 users!

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[Ilgaz]

Once upon a time ICQ was de-facto standard in Turkey. You know what they did? (AOL shareholders, listen)
They banned the TURKISH CABLE IP BLOCK, the _country_ from reaching their servers. They actually banned Cable ISP monopoly but it was like banning all active, high profile users.
People looked to alternatives, tried proxies (yes,pathetic but needed) and they stared at something which is already installed to their system. Windows (MSN) Messenger. The outcome will amaze you. Microsoft execs are at absolute shock because Turkish MSN _active_ users exceeds 25 million. That is 1/4 of country using a single service.
Hope the idiots banning a country because of couple lamers read this message. Yes, MSN has 25 million users... Thanks to you!

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[multipartmixed]

Is that Turk-Telecom that got banned?

Because, I gotta say, wow, that netblock generates a LOT of spam. Seriously. Like 25% of my spam comes from there.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[Ilgaz]

No, cable ISP. They didn't ban Turk Telecom. Turk Telecom seems to care for spam reports lately (their mail spam rate going lower along with Poland) but they banned the Cable ISP. Imagine there is only Comcast in USA for Cable ISP and rest are 56K running people. You are banning entire Comcast from your network, they did something similar to it.
I still suspect some racial profiling etc. since it is really possible to hunt the individual spammers and if you are at a point of banning an entire ISP block, it is really time to call the Police of that country. OK- lets say not racial profiling but something like "Oh Turkey? Who cares, lets ban them". That decision cost them 25 million users.
Lets not forget that joke, MSN IM Protocol is a horribly engineered piece of junk and MS isn't known as some security champion company. They don't have that spam problem with 25 million potential zombies. So it can be prevented even by Microsoft.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[jellomizer]

Oh the memories.
Unplugging my college roomates computer from the internet (my bed was right infront of the eathernet jacks) because he wouldn't get off the Damn ICQ. If I didn't unplug him, he and me respectivly would be up all night as his keyboard was loud and didn't know how to turn off his speakers. After he gaveup and went to bed I quietly pluged the cable back in. He never learned was the wizer... (he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shead if I didn't want him in the room all I would need to do is deadbolt the door, and even though he has the key wouldn't figure it out.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[andy.ruddock]

You got to college, yet you are incapable of spelling shed?
There's no fucking hope.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[jellomizer]

To Add insult to injory I am working on my masters and I have a good GPA.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[andy.ruddock]

Injury.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[Artuir]

Look, despite what nutjobs want to think about how corporations are out to get them and all of that crap, there likely was a reason that particular ISP was banned. Last I checked ICQ was not making much money from their service. On the other side of the same coin, because they do not have unlimited funds (like Microsoft), perhaps a lot of spam or hack attempts were coming from that ISP in particular. I'm sure they've banned quite a few other countries' ISPs if that's the case. Maybe the ISP didn't do anything to stem the tide of the crap their users were putting out? If that were the case.. shit, I'd ban them too. Especially if I really had to manage my resources extremely carefully to keep service operating as normal for everyone else.

Seriously, you guys need to get out of this retarded "omg they're out to get us" mindset. There's reasons shit happens and I seriously doubt it's some kind of "oh we don't care, here have a ban" thing.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[ConceptJunkie]

Ladies and Gentleman, civilization has ended. Will the last person watching American Idol please turn off the TV before you die?

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[whathappenedtomonday]

you got it all wrong. what Ilgaz (86384) was trying to say was:

That decision cost them 25 million users.

it's the "shit, I'd ban them too" people that cause these things.

Re:ICQ is still around? Wow

[Ilgaz]

Based on spam stats from very serious companies, organisations, USA is unfortunately is the biggest spammer IP block on planet. Lets not discuss this or its possible reasons.

Did you hear AOL/ICQ banning a notorious spammer IP block ISP. E.g. lets say, did they ban Comcast? No? Why did they ban poor cable users of Turkey? Because it is Turkey right? That is my point, thank you.

Nobody on this planet can make me believe that MSN has better resources reserved for security. Impossible, it is NOT PART of their culture! At least I say, MS doesn't do some racial IP profiling, they seem at least trying to stop spam instead of discriminating people based on where they are.

Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I still know my ICQ number.. but haven't logged in years!

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Bozzio]

And now that you mention it, I can remember mine too!
wow.
Good call on their part to make them 7 digits long (at least at first) so that people likened them to phone numbers.

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Notquitecajun]

Me too...my 10-year-old ICQ # (8 digits) which I haven't used in 5 years...

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't they start off 6 digits?

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's only cause you didn't have an older account with less digits...
Sort of like the whole Slashdot account numbers.

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I still have and use my original 6 digit icq number. And fwiw can still connect with trillian, and can see several of my friends are connected as well.

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if anyone managed to get the same Slashdot number as ICQ number? Or maybe that irony only happens if your number is 4815162342...

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[JDAustin]

I stopped using ICQ earlier this year when my low-seven digit account number was hijacked. ICQ provides ZERO methods of getting hijacked accounts back.

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[dewke]

Not true, I had a 6 digit ICQ number, 438xxx

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

They actually started with 6 digit. The first publicly released numbers started at 500k.

I still use my 2.4m number, now everyone's 9 digits

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

7 digit long at first? My first ICQ# had 6 digits and I know some people who had 5 digit ones. That was not a call they made, the numbers just kept increasing as people signed up.

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[LilGuy]

I wish I could remember mine.. just for nostalgic purposes. I know it started with a 10 but that's all I got.

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Cobaltqube]

Bozzio.. They were 6 digits at first.. you came late.. :-)

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[afidel]

Wrong! They started at 1 but lost the DB with the first 10,000 ID's and had to start over at 10,000 so the lowest ID you could have today is 10,001 which is probably the ID of the guy who fixed the DB =)

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

It wouldn't be irony, that would be coincidence. Please stop throwing that word around Ms Lavigne.

Re:Who still use ICQ?

[Kalriath]

You mean Morrisette, not Lavigne. That damn song "Ironic" had absolutely zero irony in it.

AOL

[clang_jangle]

The one thing AOL has always excelled at is cutting off its nose to spite its face. Though I am rather grateful for all those nice, metal disc boxes which I spray-painted in solid colors (for more worthy discs). They really look great.

Re:AOL

[gehrehmee]

Didn't we just a few months back hear about AOL Adopting Jabber (XMPP)? If AOL is seriously looking towards joining the non-legacy IM network, maybe this is just the latest in a long line of effort to de-emphasize and eventually scuttle ICQ in favor of something a little more modern. Or maybe not. One can dream though.

Re:AOL

[ttrafford]

That was in January. In March they canceled those plans.

Re:AOL

[ya really]

Though I am rather grateful for all those nice, metal disc boxes which I spray-painted in solid colors (for more worthy discs). They really look great.

I always thought they always made good alternatives for clay pidgeons when you have nothing else to shot.

Re:AOL

[Baloo Ursidae]

I used to collect AOL tins to store my weed in.

Re:AOL

[clang_jangle]

I prefer a Panter Sprint cigar tin for that -- they hold a lot more. :)

Re:AOL

[Baloo Ursidae]

True, but my college prohibits tobacco products inside buildings (not just can't use them: Can't have them!), and I only need to carry a bowl or two. It's less prone to get discovered if I use an AOL tin in my lunch, then just go eat my lunch someplace isolated and inconspicuous...

Re:AOL

[gehrehmee]

Really? I hadn't heard anything to that effect. Have a link handy? This would be vaguely depressing, unless again they're dropping the c2s gateway in favor of the more rational s2s federation with other servers approach.

Wrong title!

[Tester]

Actually, they're forcing windows users to upgrade.. It has nothing to do with blocking alternative clients.

In other news, GnomeICU still works and pidgin has just made a new release with sends a newer version number.

Re:Wrong title!

[zullnero]

It's generally not hard to work around this sort of stuff, and has been done many times in the past with yahoo messenger, MSN, and ICQ as well. Even if they start doing some sort of signature based stuff, it just means one more step. Sniff the line, figure out the packet data, fake it out.

The only thing that constantly dinking with your client accomplishes is to wear out folks using alternative clients and force them to just stop using your servers altogether.

Re:Wrong title!

[jmauro]

I think they're trying to force the alternate clients off. They don't pay add rates for those clients only the native clients that see the ads they're serving up. They ignore the network effects when someone leaves the network since they're only conserned about ads and add rates, it's almost like they've never heard of Metcalfe's Law before.

Re:Wrong title!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, ICQ didn't block anything.

Seriously, Slashdot is starting to become the poor man's tech-news. All it's missing now are tits on every second page.
And more scandals.

Re:Wrong title!

[woytablet]

but tablet compiles of pidgin lag behind just as people are on vacation. piece of shit icq scum i hope you rot in hell.

Re:Wrong title!

[Samizdata]

I think they're trying to force the alternate clients off. They don't pay add rates for those clients only the native clients that see the ads they're serving up. They ignore the network effects when someone leaves the network since they're only conserned about ads and add rates, it's almost like they've never heard of Metcalfe's Law before.

You mean about Metcalf cashing out his 401K, buying a jet pack and now needing a machine to poop?

Adium is already updated

[Anonymous Coward]

And working just fine at this very moment.

Re:Adium is already updated

[remmelt]

After rejecting my password a couple of times three hours ago, it's now working again. Adium as well.

Adium already fixed

[Per Wigren]

I got the "your client is too old" message today, did a manual "check for updates" and found that a new version of Adium (1.2.6) was released and after upgrading ICQ works again.

Re:Adium already fixed

[bhtooefr]

Not that I actually USE ICQ, but I never lost my connection to ICQ with Adium 1.2.5, although I did just update to 1.2.6.

ICQ?

[Rik Sweeney]

I thought ICQ died years ago. Apart from MSN, which I use very rarely, what other IM clients are in common use?

Re:ICQ?

[AkaKaryuu]

I'm still a heavy user of AIM and occasionally Yahoo Messenger. MSN I hear is quite common, however I only know one or two people who use it regularly. I've always been quite happy with the service from AIM. Except for the ads on their client, which can easily be fixed with Adium or Trillian.

Re:ICQ?

[larry bagina]

jabber (supported by google mail) and yahoo im... I used to get laid fairly regularly with yahoo chat hookups. (And I was gay or had no standards, it would have been at least twice a day!) It went massively downhill with the bots though :(

Re:ICQ?

[Yvanhoe]

What is supposed to be alive then if you don't use either MSN or ICQ ?
My non-geek friends use MSN, others use ICQ or jabber (mostly because of gtalk)
I still use IRC too.
My work made me use Skype as well.

Re:ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

The biggest ones are AIM, Yahoo, Myspace IM and Gtalk.

Re:ICQ?

[ari_j]

My recent usage, on only one machine but my main workstation for the past 2-1/2 years, gives the following reports from du for my Adium log folder:

• AIM: 86MB
• MSN: 37MB
• Yahoo: 50MB
• ICQ: 0
• GTalk: 4.2MB

Note that I only used MSN and Yahoo for a long time, and added AIM just a few years ago when I moved to a state where apparently everyone is on AIM. I think that there are regional trends for one network to be more popular than others. This probably has to do with the first few people in a particular high school or college starting with one IM network and nobody in that school bothering with the others since they all told their friends "Get X!"

Re:ICQ?

[TheRaven64]

AIM and ICQ have been the same network for a long time. I use the AIM transport in Jabber, but I use my old ICQ account and so everyone I talk to on AIM is talking to an ICQ user.

Re:ICQ?

[peragrin]

MSN is big in Europe and Australia. I have to use MSN for it. forutnately all you need is an email address and my gmail one works quite nicely with MSN.

So I can use the same address on gmail and MSN, leaving different one for AIM and yahoo. I haven't used ICQ in a while too much spam when ever I was logged in so I stopped logging in.

Re:ICQ?

[Isotopian]

This is just in my experience, from living in Alaska and the east coast, but from what I've seen IM usage is heavily influenced by location. MSN is widely popular on the west coast, whereas AIM is still the de facto standard on the east coast. Case in point: out of my 400+ contacts in msn, one of them is from the east coast, and only two or three of my AIM buddies are from the west coast (and they just have an AIM in addition to MSN, not instead of).

Re:ICQ?

[Blakey Rat]

AIM and MSN have been neck-and-neck for ages. I don't have any contacts on GoogleTalk who don't also have either a AIM or MSN account, and I've never had to turn on Yahoo.

I'm going to try to get people on Skype, though, because file transfers in Skype actually work. All of the third party clients for MSN and AIM screw up file transfers in one way or another, and as a result there's a really good chance you're unable to send files to the person you're talking to. Or if you are able, it goes really slow.

Re:ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to get laid fairly regularly with yahoo chat hookups.

So, you used to jerk off to guys pretending to be girls? And you're OK with that?

Re:ICQ?

[ari_j]

I don't use Jabber, because to my knowledge my problems with it when I used it extensively (it formed the backbone of my undergraduate thesis project in distributed computing) in 2002-2003 still exist. One of those (the big one for me as an end user; the other big one was for me as a programmer and it had to do with the Jabber protocol making bad assumptions about how XML and XML namespaces work) was that all of the transports failed to handle multiple logins to the Jabber account in a proper manner. Instead, I just use Adium and accept that only AIM and Jabber-based accounts will work with multiple logins. Unless that's changed.

As to AIM and ICQ being the same network, the big difference is that my 6-digit ICQ number is too easy to hit with spam, so I just disable that account in my IM program.

Re:ICQ?

[Lord Apathy]

No self respecting nerd should use anything but IRC. Completely open source, mostly, and been around long before icq, aim, msn crawled from the pits of hell. Text only baby... Lets see you hook a webcam up to that bitch. and files...

I've had the same nick on irc since 1990 and some of the channels I hang out in are older than the web. #hottub anyone?

Re:ICQ?

[Anonymous Coward]

In California, at least, MSN isn't really used by anyone, let alone "wildly popular." The only reason I ever got an MSN account is because I was corresponding with some people in Europe who use nothing else.

Re:ICQ?

[Menelkir]

I just add my MSN contacts in my Yahoo account, also, I do the same with my icq contacts in aim. Really.. MSN is a pain in the ass. Even using MSN contacts, Yahoo is better.

Re:ICQ?

[Kelbear]

I live on the east coast and most of my friends use AIM. However, I also have some asian immigrant friends so I use MSN, plus some midwest and west coast friends who use Yahoo. Most of my local friends also picked up Gtalk/jabber since we all switched over to Gmail and got Gtalk as a bonus, and since they integrated the web Gtalk/Gmail into Aim, that worked out even better for us.

But as a result of having friends all of these clients I just fire up Pidgin and call it a day.

Re:ICQ?

[grub]

I used to chat with girls online, meet them, and stick my penis into their vagina.

Where did you dump the bodies?

Re:ICQ?

[eneville]

ed@ed-desktop:~/.purple/logs$ du --max-depth=1 -h
1.5M ./aim
3.1M ./yahoo
12M ./msn
3.9M ./jabber
38M ./icq
58M .

I guess I have less to talk about than you. At the moment I'm learning Russian, and have been for the past couple of years, so I normally have the odd converstaion on ICQ with some random from Russian, perhaps about to take an english exam or something - but I do try and use common phrases.

Some of those log directories might include lots of HTML that other network protocols might not support. When looking in the ICQ directory the logs are plain text, the logs in the jabber directory have lots of HTML around the text.

Re:ICQ?

[Growlor]

Last year, my intern told me that his college friends use multi-network clients now. I think he mentioned something like ebuddy?

Kopete works

[HappySmileMan]

Kopete fixed this, well, you have to edit a config file, but once you do that it works fine on Kopete.

Pidgin (GAIM) Already fixed

[Achra]

I was getting this earlier, but the latest seems to connect just fine.

Re:With Jews You Lose

[Anonymous Coward]

boooooooooooo

Hopefully wont spill over into AIM

[ya really]

I'd really hate it if Trillian or Miranda tells me tommorrow, "Please upgrade your version of AIM." Using the actual AIM client is like torture.

Re:Hopefully wont spill over into AIM

[AkaKaryuu]

Probably worse than torture. They normally don't make you look at popout adds while needles are pushed under your nails.

Re:Hopefully wont spill over into AIM

[clone53421]

Good point. That's probably why McCain prefers to be computer illiterate.

ICQ usage in different countries?

[stm2]

In Argentina ICQ is now something you may remember as you remember Altavista, and other ".com" fossils.
(most people use MSN, and geeks use gtalk).

Re:ICQ usage in different countries?

[KillerBob]

Hey... I still use Altavista. Though admittedly, mostly for Babelfish. Who doesn't like a game of Babelfish Tag, where you take a simple message like "I like Chinese food", pass it through Babelfish 10 times, and then give it to the person sitting next to you at work so they can guess what the message was. :)

Re:ICQ usage in different countries?

[kusanagi374]

Same here in Brazil. Ten years ago, most teenagers and young adults would use ICQ (and Netmeeting for webcam... ewww) to chat with each other.

But then in the early 2000s some started migrating to MSN to chat with their closest friends, and ICQ was pretty much like Orkut: everyone had a profile with correct data (full name, city, workplace, etc), people would search for each other and then communicate. Most people had like 15-20 contacts on MSN, and 500> on ICQ.

MSN now is the main IM in Brazil, and ICQ was eventually ditched... only geeks use it.

Re:ICQ usage in different countries?

[wolenczak]

FYI:

Babelfish Altavista is now Babelfish Yahoo, and who knows, maybe Babelfish Google anytime soon...

Re:ICQ usage in different countries?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did I miss sth.?
I always thougt ICQ would still be big. At least in 2005 they had 56% of marketshare. And everyone here is saying they were already dead by 2003.
It's my primary network, though I connect to it via Jabber transport.
Yes, the official client sucks, and the terms of use are really evil, but I can't complain about the messaging itself. I never got any spam (unlike with Yahoo messenger).
Some of my friends use MSN additionally, but EVERYONE has an ICQ number. I'm in Germany, and I don't think we're especially backwards here...

Identifying clients?

[Anonymous Coward]

To me, this mostly raises one question - how does ICQ identify clients in the first place, and why don't alternative clients spoof their identification and try to pass off as the official client?

Re:Identifying clients?

[daranz]

They probably don't because it wasn't a necessity up to this point. All this will accomplish is force developers of the third-party clients to release hotfixes that change what their clients identifies itself as.

Adium 1.2.6 fixes it

[McDutchie]

Adium 1.2.6 is now out which fixes ICQ connectivity.

This has been done before

[MonsterTrimble]

And I'm looking at you Yahoo. To ensure you have the latest and greatist piece of yahoo IM they disallow you to do any type of file/photo sharing and make web cam stuff a living hell unless you have the newest version. They were pulling this stunt back when i was using XP & Trillian. I have since moved up to Kubuntu & Kopete, but yahoo is still a POS in that respect.

Now, if Yahoo's native linux client wasn't stuck back in 1999 we might have a chance. Maybe with Google and Yahoo joining forces something will get done.

But I'm not hopeful.

Re:This has been done before

[Ilgaz]

Yahoo ignored the chance to move to the XMPP protocol and they decided to merge with MSN giving hell to BOTH networks users especially if one dares to use MSN with @yahoo.com e-mail. There is also a mysterious increase of spam/malware since that merge.

Every single "clone" will suck unless the networks use a completely documented protocol which is XMPP. I really admire Google guys to use that protocol, they could go with some "Google IM protocol" crap and nobody could say a word about it. Now there is a very known brand like Google, it is time to abuse it to push ordinary friends, clueless people to XMPP/Jabber protocol ;)

As spicoli would say

[geekoid]

"You Dick!"

Upgrades

[Anonymous Coward]

Wanna bet that within the next few patch of each respective IM client they will fix this? This is a common misconception for software companies is they think that restricting protocols like this will help pigeon hole people into using their software, when in 2 months all the other 3rd parties will work again...

Re:Upgrades

[icepick72]

Most users don't want to wait two months to chat again. From that perspective the pigeon hole technique likely works. What's more plausible is people will leave the AIM network and choose a different one altogether. Overall it sounds like some of the secondary clients are poorly made, some work and some don't. Maybe some of the poorer implementations have disregarded proper setting/passing of version # in the past and the network now requires it.

Re:Upgrades

[eobanb]

Newsflash, it's already fixed in Pidgin and Adium, which were basically the only clients affected.

Old ICQ doesn't work either

[dreamchaser]

I fired it up last night to talk to some old UO friends. I was told that I would have to upgrade to connect so I did. The new client crashes every time I try to launch it. So, instead I tried Trillian and it worked. Maybe that's changed today; haven't tried yet. I will check it out after this con-call that I'm on.

Re:Old ICQ doesn't work either

[Frankie70]

I will check it out after this con-call that I'm on.

If you can manage conf call & slashdot at the same time - I am sure
you manage conf call, slashdot & ICQ also.
Go ahead - check it out right away.

Re:Old ICQ doesn't work either

[dreamchaser]

Trillian still works just fine, and I can only multitask so much! I was on a different machine than the one I had it setup on ;)

for those with problems

[drkamil]

meebo.com is an online client, works fine for me because i don't have the patched pidgin version

Re:for those with problems

[daranz]

Meebo uses libpurple, which is the same thing that Pidgin uses. So, if you upgrade to the latest version of Pidgin, it should work just as well.

Re:With Jews You Lose

[Anonymous Coward]

Go home Cartman.

Mine is 6

[ari_j]

My ICQ number is 6 digits, in the 500,000 range. I do not know if they started off at 100,000 or below. I never really used ICQ then or now. I just got a number to fit in. :P

Re:Mine is 6

[Anonymous Coward]

They started off at 100,000 for the public. People in Israel generally had first dibs the lowest numbers since Mirabilis was an Israeli company.

There were certain company accounts that went lower than that used for official purposes

Mine is in the 12xxxx range. It used to be a status symbol for being "oldschool," but now no one uses ICQ.

Re:Mine is 6

[ari_j]

Oh crap. Between my Slashdot ID and my ICQ number, now even I realize how old I'm getting! I bet you kids don't even remember Napster itself!

Re:Mine is 6

[bsDaemon]

Yeah, and how do you think *I* feel? :-/ and yeah, napster was great... sure it was back in the days of dialup, but there were actually choices and stuff to download; well worth the time spent compared to the stuff i can get on limewire/frostwire.

Sure, I could just use iTunes or something, but its not worth the dollar and the hassle.

Re:Mine is 6

[plague3106]

Mine is between 150,000 and 180,000, and I think I got mine fairly early (in 1996).

Re:Mine is 6

[KillerBob]

My ICQ number was in the 386,000 range... can't remember the last 3 digits. Of course, I haven't used it since 1999, so I doubt the account is still up and running.

My big concern about this is whether this is a test to measure reaction before they start blocking 3rd party clients on AIM, which I do use. (though mostly I'm on Yahoo and MSN)

Re:Mine is 6

[Noexit]

I've got a six digit number, and I still use it. Mostly it's just for work contacts, but I still have a few friends and family that pop up from time to time. I login with Kopete and so far no problems.

Re:Mine is 6

[fyrewulff]

It's not always fun to be old school. Every time I go online in a Source engine game, people always look up my Steam ID and constantly harass me with offers to buy it (it's 4 digits).

Re:Mine is 6

[Anonymous Coward]

they start at 99999... concious decision or array indexing error? ^^

Re:Mine is 6

[bickerdyke]

so.. you can still remember your Fido-Adress too?

Re:Mine is 6

[ArtemaOne]

I'm in the 102,000 range.

Re:Mine is 6

[ari_j]

I grew up in a rural area. FidoNet was during my time but before my online life began, as we simply had no BBSes to begin with. I spent the time programming in isolation, instead. It was a simpler time, &c. :P

Re:Mine is 6

[Anonymous Coward]

Then sell it!!!

Re:Mine is 6

[Anonymous Psychopath]

Napster? I remember uudecoding with a Vax. A

Now, get the hell off my lawn!

Re:Mine is 6

[Rayban]

Meh... That's nothing. I remember when we couldn't afford the two U's for uudecoding!

Re:Mine is 6

[fyrewulff]

Most of the games attached to it I can't even run yet, and there's also the fact that the account is so old it's permanently attached to my old hotmail address. There's no way for me to unhook the email from it.

Re:Mine is 6

[fyrewulff]

I mean to say most of the games on accounts people offer me I can't even run yet.

ICQ = EVIL ?

[Roskolnikov]

What I like is if you go to the tech forum on ICQ referred to in initial post you'll see that most if not all workarounds have been edited out by ICQ....nice.

Pidgin

[Anonymous Coward]

Pidgin has released an update to fix it.

Malicious or just an upgrade?

[nurb432]

If they changed the protocol as part of an 'upgrade', it only makes sense to block older clients. If a 3rd party isn't 'current' yet and is blocked its not AOL's fault.

Re:Malicious or just an upgrade?

[bickerdyke]

I doubt that. Cause then there would be no sense in Kopetes configurable (and distributed) Versionnumber-Configuration. That only makes sense when you EXPECT ICQ to start requiring some random version number without actually *changing* anything in the protocol.

Got same error using Pidgin

[Grogo67]

But I checked and 2.4.3 was just released and that fixed the issue.

Who keeps track?

[Orleron]

I've got like five different IM clients hooked into my Trillian, and I never even look anymore at which network I'm using. I could have not used ICQ in years and never known it.

Anyone else still using Trillian?

Re:Who keeps track?

[mapsjanhere]

Using Trillian here too, and it doesn't seem to have the issue described.

Re:Who keeps track?

[Washii]

On Astra, no less. Haven't used ICQ in over a year, though.

Heck, the last time I connected to ICQ was for shits and giggles...Hmm, make that the last -several- times I've connected.

No, you don't. :)

[Balinares]

Kopete updates its version file automatically, so no need to edit anything. Kopete will do it for you.

AOL Censorship

[Braedley]

It seems that AOL is censoring the names of alternative IM clients in the linked forum. Everywhere that Miranda or Pidgin should appear, there's ... instead. Ironically, iChat and Jabber are not censored (yes, I know that Jabber doesn't connect to ICQ).

Well at least I know why I wasn't connecting to ICQ earlier.

Re:AOL Censorship

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Ironically, iChat and Jabber are not censored...

Why is that ironic? Apple has signed a deal with AOL for iChat to be officially supported. Jabber is just a protocol and one AOL has been moving to interoperability with. I wonder if GTalk is being censored as it is an actual alternative client that doesn't use the AIM protocol.

The message from ICQ tells me to upgrade Pidgin

[KeithIrwin]

I'm using Adium (haven't upgraded yet) and the message I get is this:
"The client version you are using is too old. Please upgrade at http://pidgin.im"

So I don't think that it's really a matter of freezing out alternative clients. If it were, it would tell me to go get the new official AIM client, not Pidgin. Instead, I think they're just trying to force an upgrade beyond some specific version of libpurple. It could be about security issues, but I haven't really researched it.

Re:The message from ICQ tells me to upgrade Pidgin

[yincrash]

It's just the message that libpurple sends to the client (either adium or pidgin or finch or whatever) when it encounters the error code that ICQ sent which represents something like "client too old" or whatever. libpurple just decided to put the pidgim.im address in their error message.

I had to stop using it ...

[HerculesMO]

I lost a very low 6 digit UIN (I was an early starter with it), due to the fact I couldn't recover any password or anything. I was extremely pissed off, so I just stopped using it.

That was 3 years ago.

Re:I had to stop using it ...

[ArtemaOne]

102686 here, still got it.

Less people can access ICQ...

[Joe the Lesser]

And nothing of value was lost

Re:Less people can access ICQ...

[Baloo Ursidae]

I'd totally mod that up if I hadn't already replied to this thread. I'm amazed how many people here are complaining about ICQ, yet fail to switch to something better, open and standard.

Re:Less people can access ICQ...

[Delkster]

Switching to a different IM network would be kind of pointless unless you can convince your contacts to do the same. IM is pretty boring as a single player game.

And no, I'm not going to give my login data to a third party for some kind of a bridge service between the networks.

Perhaps sadly, where I live (Finland) the problem isn't really people insisting on ICQ but MSN. Someone pointed out earlier that in Russia there's no IM, there's just ICQ. Here it's just MSN.

You != Everyone

[Midnight Thunder]

I thought ICQ died years ago. Apart from MSN, which I use very rarely, what other IM clients are in common use?

Depending your geography and demographics, then you will find the popular IM network is not the same. For example ICQ still has a certain popularity in Eastern Europe, QQ in China and South Africa. Avoid basing global statistics on your own usage habits.

Re:You != Everyone

[ldierk]

ICQ is also big in Germany. All of my friends use it over there. When I told a friend from the states about it she didn't even know what I'm talking about. Thanks to Miranda I can have her AIM account in the same contact list as all my other friends though.

ICQ has a messaging client?

[Bo'Bob'O]

I thought it was advertisement system with a instant messaging feature in the corner somewhere.

Really though, I put up with the ads for years, and I may well still have been using it, but both AIM and ICQ got so bloated, plus the use of such large, animated ads, with SOUND. If they had just kept it simple, static ads, I'd never have bothered with a 3rd party client, and would still be getting their ads.

Yeah, I don't suppose it's right to still use the service without getting the ads (I use it far less now, though), but if I and people like me get pushed away, it's going to start to effect the numbers of people that DO use the ad based client.

I know google talk is ad-less, what are the adds like on MSN? Yahoo seems the worst offender, so I'd be curious what other options are out there?

The old Pidgin still runs, apparantly.

[pacroon]

One of my friends, one who is too lazy to ever upgrade from Debian Stable, hence still running the old Pidgin, called Gaim, claims it to be working fine with ICQ.

meebo works

[smokejive]

meebo.com still works to access it.

just use jabber

[just_asgard]

Another good reason to stop raping icq's corpse and start to use nifty and religiously right jabber.

If they do that, it's going to be suicide for ICQ

[Opportunist]

Why do people use alternative clients? Easy reason: To have one client able to access many IM networks.

You know what it's like. You have a few friends that use ICQ, others that use YM, still others that use something completely different... and you'd have to install 10 clients just to keep in touch with all of them.

What do you do instead? You install one client that handles all.

And what do you do when your client stops working for a certain network because its maker decides to disallow the use of third party clients? Will you stop using the network and tell your friends to get some other IM system to keep in touch with you, or will you clog your system (and ports) with yet another messenger software?

Intent not clear

[Anonymous Coward]

My legacy GAIM never broke, and Pidgin, which had the problem yesterday, is fine this morning. Seems to have been an error rather than a deliberate attempt to interfere.

A Test???

[Anonymous Coward]

This seems to be a force to current version as opposed to blocking third party clients. I still used ICQ 5.1 at work to stay in touch with a select few people, as it is not as obtrusive as AIM.

I have to wonder if this is an outrage test for AOL to see what kind of response they would get if they started chopping off the older versions of the AIM client.

Re:With Jews You Lose

[Anonymous Coward]

What holocaust?

http://www.onethirdoftheholocaust.com/

I use ICQ for inline images

[Billhead]

The only reason I use ICQ is because you can send inline images.
If anybody can point me to any other protocol that also supports it would be most appreciated.

Re:I use ICQ for inline images

[larry bagina]

try goat-say.

Re:I use ICQ for inline images

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

The only reason I use ICQ is because you can send inline images. If anybody can point me to any other protocol that also supports it would be most appreciated.

AIM supports inline images and it works with my client (just tested it). It doesn't seem to work with Jabber and my client though, but I can't say that is the protocol instead of the client.

Re:I use ICQ for inline images

[randomErr]

No surprise on AOL supporting the same feature set as ICQ because AOL owns ICQ. As to Jabber: Its its a text/XML based protocol. You could in theory write and extension for your IM client to render inline images.

Re:I use ICQ for inline images

[NNKK]

Except AIM *DOESN'T* support the same feature set, it's actually inferior to ICQ. No offline delivery of messages.

misleading, to say the least

[Anonymous Coward]

From what I can see the headline is terribly misleading.

ICQ did not block alternative clients, they blocked clients that were reporting an old version. This was done primarily to force users of older versions of ICQ's official client to upgrade.

Pidgin's website was down for a good several hours yesterday - getting hammered by people who couldn't connect to ICQ, I would assume. But once the site was up there was a notice right on the front page and a patch was almost immediately available if you wanted to compile it yourself. Took a little bit longer for the binaries to become available.

Today, less than 24 hours later, Pidgin is working fine for me again.

Pidgin is a no-go...

[McPierce]

I've noticed the same thing. I can't get connected via Pidgin at all...

Uh Oh!!!

[morgauo]

Yah, the title of this comment says it all doesn't it? Ahh, I miss ICQ and my 6-digit id. Alas, logging on to that network is like returning to windows... spam popup, spam popup, spam popup You can really tell AOL owns it

Bragging rights

[schlick]

I keep my low ICQ number because it is even older than my slashdot ID.

Re:Bragging rights

[Christianfreak]

I have a 7-digit one ... well I did. The password suddenly stopped allowing me access. Either stolen somehow (never gave it out) or they just decided it shouldn't work anymore.

Sad really.

Re:Bragging rights

[Anonymous Coward]

The password suddenly stopped allowing me access. Either stolen somehow (never gave it out) or they just decided it shouldn't work anymore.

Bit rot.

Maybe they could just "un-retard" it

[Moraelin]

Well, on the topic of forcing people to upgrade... maybe if the newer software wasn't so retarded, more people would upgrade. Just a thought.

Admittedly my anecdote isn't comprehensive marketing data and isn't that new either, but just to illustrate a point. So at one point I wanted to communicate with someone who supposedly had only ICQ.

The last version I had used before was, IIRC, 2002a. Or something. At any rate, it was a relatively clean interface, with just the two text-fields needed, and the minimum of buttons that one might need. All in the Windows configured colours, and with sensible icons that are there, but don't scream for attention and don't look like someone flew an airplane into a clown makeup factory. I'm not necessarily a fan of ICQ or AOL, but I could respect that interface.

Well, I figured, wth, let's get the newest version. You know, what with potential security holes and whatnot in older versions. I think the version at the moment was ICQ 4. "With Xtraz!" The l33t (ok, SMS-speak) spelling in a product name should have been warning enough. It was everything that the old version wasn't: retarded and annoying and looking like a desperate scream for attention. IIRC with an ad banner thrown in for good measure too.

I actually went "oh, fuck the security holes, that's why I have an anti-virus and data execution check turned on." I actually uninstalled it and dug through old backup CD-R's to find my trusted old version.

Well, I uninstalled it completely after a few days and never looked back. So I wouldn't know if the even newer versions fixed that or continued down that slope towards software-Alzheimer's.

But just saying... if you find that you have to _force_ people to give up their old versions and use the newer one, even when it's for free (as in beer;)... there may be some subtle hint in there.

And yeah, I know there are other programs one can use instead of the official client. They're just kinda irrelevant for the point I was trying to make, which is about AOL making the users of its official client upgrade.

Re:Maybe they could just "un-retard" it

[Growlor]

I agree. If they had just kept it the same and made a security-hardened update, I would have stuck with their client. As it is, I will never try it again.

Re:Maybe they could just "un-retard" it

[Walter Carver]

Just use Miranda man: www.miranda-im.org . It's clean and simple, fast as Notepad. The default is to take the colours of Windows but you can skin it all you want.

Cheers!

It's like the Hoff

[Anonymous Coward]

Popular in Germany, too.

Re:With Jews You Lose

[Anonymous Coward]

yep! the judish instant messenger program shakes them down for a few more shekels!!

Wow...

[interactive_civilian]

Upon reading this thread, my number popped into my head (7 digits starting with 121), and I decided to give it a shot.

I logged in for the first time in probably 9 or 10 years and the account is still there despite the complete lack of activity.

I'm actually kind of impressed with that. I don't even have access to the email account that my ICQ account is linked to.

Trilian - no problems.

[ThePhilips]

Moved to Google Talk and Skype long time ago - mainly due to the internationalization problems which always plagued ICQ - but I still keep ICQ running just for some very old friends.

Several days ago I believe I had some connection problems (I rarely look into ICQ) but now it is fine. Fine means that I'm connected but I see probably only 10-20% of people I usually have in my contact list.

Most of my friends are using Miranda IM, I presume. And many of them are off-line right now. I see several on-line contacts which I am sure are using QIP, meaning that it has fixed whatever the problem was.

My client is Trillian 3.1 Basic. (Not great overall, but works somehow - especially for the older obsolete protocols like ICQ.)

Kinda sad

[Just Some Guy]

I'll miss ICQ when they shut it down. I haven't gotten a real message from it in years (I think - I don't really pay attention to which service in Kopete I'm getting messages from), but I can't bring myself to stop connecting.

I have a very low 7-digit ID from right after it came out. It was pretty cool to be able to randomly chat with friends without having to log into an IRC channel and wait for them to remember to come online. One time I even bought a girl a computer for Valentine's Day just so I could talk to her while I was at my ISP tech support job; we ended up getting married.

ICQ sucks and it's spammy and doesn't do anything cool, but there's a lot of nostalgia in that crusty old system. I'll be sad the day when my login stops working for the last time.

Re:Kinda sad

[BitZtream]

Not to burst your bubble, but an idea from 'right after it came out' would have 5 or less digits. It had been out for a year or so before it made 6 digits.

Re:Kinda sad

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to burst your bubble, but IDs for the general public started at 100,000. Numbers below that were reserved, so if somebody had one of those, they were either a Mirabilis employee or had connections. It was out a year or so before it made it to 7 digits.

Re:Kinda sad

[Red Flayer]

One time I even bought a girl a computer for Valentine's Day just so I could talk to her while I was at my ISP tech support job; we ended up getting married.

Oh, so that's how to solve that puzzle. I tried the flowers, champagne, dinner, jewelry methods.

BTW, was it a girl you already knew?

--thanks in advance for the relationship advice.

Re:Kinda sad

[Just Some Guy]

We'd been dating for a couple of months by then. I think I just got lucky though, and I doubt more women would like hardware than jewelry.

Re:Kinda sad

[Red Flayer]

Sorry, I was just making a pretty poor attempt at subtle humor. If I had ever given my wife a computer (or any tech stuff) for V-day, she would have beat me over the head with it.

You lucky bastard.

Re:Kinda sad

[Just Some Guy]

You lucky bastard.

No luck involved, friend. ;-)

Re:Kinda sad

[Zebedeu]

My GF's laptop battery died last year, and I though of giving her a new one for christmas.
When I mentioned this to my friends, it was like giving them ammunition to make fun of me for the next 2 months.

Fast forward to last month, I was talking with her about her computer and I mentioned that I almost "made a mistake" and bought her a laptop battery for christmas.

Turns out she would've loved it, probably better than the massage book and oil I gave her as a emergency backup present.

Go figure.

Miranda IM

[Anonymous Coward]

I have using Miranda IM, and is working fine

Russia too

[Anonymous Coward]

QQ dominates the IM market in China.

In Russia too. Here, there is no "IM", there is ICQ. I will send you that via ICQ, do you have his ICQ, you were not on ICQ so I thought you were out of office, etc etc etc. And this is very sad.

Re:Russia too

[Bert64]

The same can be said for AIM in the US and MSN in parts of Europe...
It's disturbing, and a problem, all these disconnected networks.

Re:Russia too

[cthulu_mt]

So what you're saying is...

In Soviet Russia ICQ uses you!

Re:Russia too

[BungaDunga]

One thing I've noticed is that most of my friends who I know (IRL) seem to have switched from AIM to GMail's chat (which is Jabber of course). I don't know how much of a bite gmail has taken from AIM, but I would wager it is nontrivial.

Re:Russia too

[dodecalogue]

bitlbee ftw!

BitlBee brings IM (instant messaging) to IRC clients. It's a great solution for people who have an IRC client running all the time and don't want to run an additional MSN/AIM/whatever client. BitlBee currently supports the following IM networks/protocols: XMPP/Jabber (including Google Talk), MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM and ICQ.

Dead issue...

[Anonymous Coward]

Upgrade, anyone? :| I love how freaked out end users get when their world breaks for a second. "OMFG!!! My ICQ is br0ked! This pwns me, WTF d0 I d0!?!?!?LOLOLOLol!!!!1!11one

Hmm... I guess there is a reason why people upgrade and patch software, no? ..."

In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ

[tetromino]

In Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union, ICQ is basically the only instant messenging protocol. (A few tech-savvy Russians have started switching to Jabber, but even they still maintain ICQ accounts to talk to their less technically inclined friends.) Not having an ICQ number in Russia is sort of like not having an email address in the US; people will look at you funny.

Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ

[Dirtside]

This probably explains why my ICQ account gets at least one or two random spam add requests in Cyrillic every day.

Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ

[darkpixel2k]

This probably explains why my ICQ account gets at least one or two random spam add requests in Cyrillic every day.

Cyrillic? So that's the fancy way of saying pornoglyphics?
Every single add request I get contains a URL--usually to a porn site.

Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ

[Dirtside]

Cyrillic? So that's the fancy way of saying pornoglyphics?

...what? I'm sure you know this, but Cyrillic is the alphabet that written Russian uses. The add requests I get usually do include a URL, but I never read enough of the message to parse the URL. I just see a backwards R and insta-deny.

Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ

[darkpixel2k]

...what? I'm sure you know this, but Cyrillic is the alphabet that written Russian uses.

Yes. Perhaps you missed my humorous combining of the words 'pornography' and 'hieroglyphics'. ;)

Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ

[zwei2stein]

And its the same in Czech republic, Poland, Germany ... etc etc ...

Not having ICQ gets you weird looks just like having no cell phone. Mentioning that you use Messenger and asking someone whats his Messenger id makes you look like looser/outcast.

Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ

[Dirtside]

No, I saw that, but as usual, the Internet fails at transmitting the humorous aspect of text ;)

Remember the old conspiracy theory?

[billyjoeray]

ICQ was a plot by Mossad to spy on the internet.

Ubuntu Gutsy/Hardy users:

[Larryish]

There is a Pidgin patch available HERE

Don't ICQ and AIM use the same servers?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't the ICQ server and the AIM server the same server? I know you can add an ICQ number to your AIM buddy list and talk to ICQ users. Do they cross communicate the servers or just use the same one? Why isn't this affecting AIM users?

Not for me..

[reallyjoel]

I can't login with Miranda, and I think I couldn't login yesterday either.. not that I would notice, on a normal day i have a total of zero ICQ contacts online. I don't get the error message described in the article, but then agian I think Miranda has its own.

Ah, good

[acb]

A reminder to get around to turning off my old ICQ account.

Given that virtually everybody I know has moved to XMPP (typically Google Talk), most of the ICQ traffic I have received recently was automated porn/worm spam, presumably sent by a bot sequentially to all ICQ numbers. The spam wasn't quite frequent enough for me to kill my otherwise redundant ICQ account, though.

Re:Ah, good

[Baloo Ursidae]

Given that virtually everybody I know has moved to XMPP (typically Google Talk)

Post how you helped convince people to adopt the standard protocol. I waited until after Google Talk was opened to the public, then gave all contacts not on XMPP already 30 days notice that they either need to adopt the standard or get ahold of me via email after that. Moved 115 people off the Obsolete Four networks and onto XMPP that way.

AIM Offline Messaging

[pxc]

Nuh-uh! AIM has supported that for some time now.

Works fine with Pidgin 2.0

[mauriceh]

Works fine still for me.
Using Pidgin 2.0
Which I have used for several months so far.
Sounds like a bad implementation in some of these clients.. maybe?
A friend of mine is using Adium on his Mac, and he had to update it.
No big deal.

LOTS of people still use ICQ.
What do YOU use? MSN ?

I think the poster needs to put away his tin foil hat.

ICQ = old

[thetoadwarrior]

I take it this is AOL's way of killing off ICQ then. The last time I used it was shortly after being envious of my friend's pentium 200mhz.

ICQ, the socially conscious IM

[HalAtWork]

ICQ, the one IM app that doesn't send you a message every time someone hits enter, it promotes that they should finish their idea first before clicking the Send button, so the recipient doesn't have to read the same line over and over because they keep seeing blinking or hearing "message received" noises. The only blinking you see with this program is a tiny icon in the system tray instead of multiple taskbar panes blinking in a very distracting un-synchronized way.

Yes, you can configure your clients differently, but I'm talking about the default behavior. And even if you are courteous enough to not set it to send your message every time you press enter, your friends won't, and you'll still be getting one-liners that could have waited until they were finished typing their whole idea.

Re:ICQ, the socially conscious IM

[Marc_Hawke]

ICQ still has the best 'concept' of instant messaging.

AIM copied the IRC style of 'send on enter.' And it was lame. In addition, AIM can't send to offline users (STILL.)

MSN copied AIM. (Although they recently added the 'offline users' option.

Multi-line messages, and 'send to offline users' are the two features of ICQ that SHOULD have been copied by MSN, but wasn't.

Jabber is a worth replacement, and that's where I'm slowly migrating my friends/co-horts too.

Re:ICQ, the socially conscious IM

[Joe Jay Bee]

Multi-line messages, and 'send to offline users' are the two features of ICQ that SHOULD have been copied by MSN, but wasn't.

It has both now, although you have to hold down either shift or control to insert a newline. Get your point though.

Re:ICQ, the socially conscious IM

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the text interface is why I stuck with ICQ so long; you can't use Dragon Naturallyspeaking with most chat programs and still be able to select and correct words within the body of the message. And that even only with older versions of ICQ.

Re:ICQ, the socially conscious IM

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd mod you up if I hadn't already posted.

[Flashing Yellow Notecard]

[ClosedEyesSeeing]

Uh-oh! ... memories...

MSN has always had offline messages

[tepples]

Still, [ICQ] was notable for having offline messages long before MSN and AIM did.

MSN Messenger (now Windows Live Messenger) has always had offline messages of a sort. Each Passport ID (now Windows Live ID) is associated to an e-mail address, and the client allows the user to compose a message to an offline user, which is delivered through e-mail.

ICQ is not dead and use a patched ICQ client

[cycler]

I don't believe what I'm reading....

Slashdot people prefer MSN? Albeit with a alternate client??

Anyways, I've been using ICQ for several years and so does my friends. (The older ones anyways)

I use ICQ Pro 2003b client with patch to remove the ads.

Works great.

Had to upgrade to 2003 from 2000 (I think) when ICQ shut out older clients.

And yes, I probably should use Miranda or something. But still in ICQ network.

ICQ is for the Elder Geek
MSN is for young wannabees :) /C

(Anyone knows how to get the smiley on a single line and the slashC on 2 lines below?)

Re:ICQ is not dead and use a patched ICQ client

[Ascagnel]

:)
<br>
<br> /C

No problems with my Trillian v3.1 Basic.

[antdude]

No problems at home and work. I wonder why other clients had problems.

ICQ Who? OH! YEAH!

[Aphoxema]

I've always plugged my ICQ UIN into Pidgin and stuff for a long time, I guess it's one of those numbers I'll forget no more than my SSN or phone number. The only problem is, I don't have anyone on my ICQ list! I'm just an IM server whore and every time something comes out I'm suddenly compelled to make an account on it.

*shrugs* If ICQ doesn't want me to use their networks with the software I want, then I guess I just won't. I'm not going to pout, I'm not going to tell them anything, in fact... I don't think I'm even going to care. They're a pain in the ass anyways, every time I log into Pidgin or Adium or something somewhere else I got disconnected from my login at home.

I oddly feel like I just wasted my time, the time I was already doing nothing with, by typing this post.

Re:ICQ Who? OH! YEAH!

[mweather]

I oddly feel like I just wasted my time, the time I was already doing nothing with, by typing this post.

Imagine how I feel. I read it.

Re:ICQ Who? OH! YEAH!

[Aphoxema]

Imagine how I feel. I read it.

I both admire you and resent you for it.

One more proof...

[Jesus_666]

...of how incredibly fast the anti-DRM hackers are. They defeated this devious increment-a-value-by-one scheme within hours!

Had to back out the update to Adium...

[argent]

After upgrading to Adium 1.2.6 I was unable to connect to Jabber and AIM, so I reverted to 1.2.5. I hope 1.2.7 comes out pretty quickly.

Re:Had to back out the update to Adium...

[argent]

Tracking this problem with Adium here.

Re:If they do that, it's going to be suicide for I

[shutdown -p now]

Actually, for ICQ in particular, the main reason to use an alternative client is because the primary one is slow, bloated, inconvenient, and ad-ridden.

get your facts straight

[Anonymous Coward]

Hate to ruin the fun, but since when is updating the protocol "blocking alternative clients"?!

it would be neat

[nimbius]

to see something like icq, if decommissioned, go open-source as opposed to being dungeoned away for indefinite copyright enforcement like alot of old dos games. could prove a bold move for AOL.

ICQ

[deAtog]

My ICQ number is 5318008. Feel free to chat.

Re:ICQ

[Von Helmet]

Hey, turn around a minute, I'm sure I recognise you from somewhere...

I was having the same issue with Pidgin yesterday

[Darkk]

I was having the same issue with Pidgin yesterday saying it's old. Seems alot of people were flooding the Pidgin website yesterday to get the update which wasn't there. Finally, the update was made available this morning and working perfectly now.

Upgrade

[anw122]

I have an ICQ account - have for years. I don't use it, but I decided to add it on pidgin yesterday and had the same issue. But I upgraded pidgin this afternoon and now it works fine.

I still use it, my friends still use it.

[Anonymous Coward]

I still use it, I still have friends who use it.
And my friends and I are not in Russia or China.
We don't see the point not using it even though it's getting a lot less popular. More channels of communication is a good thing. Or at least it serves well as a backup (or the backup of the backup of the backup of the backup of the backup...)

You where saying ?

[freaker_TuC]

(1) My number is also in the low 7 digits!
(2) Don't make me feel old by my /. ID you insensitive clod!
(3) I for sure earn those bragging rights includes the cash!
(4) PROFIT! *Catchieng* Welcome to the new Internet!

RTFA

[GoodNicksAreTaken]

I know noone RTFAs but at least give us an article. A link to a forum where the last post is from the 7th of February? Come on! It isn't even accurate information. ICQ is blocking old versions of the ICQ client also. They aren't blocking alternative clients. They are blocking clients that don't use the new protocol.

Re:RTFA

[Anonymous Coward]

dude, they don't use MM-DD-YYYY. they use DD-MM-YYYY.

USE THE STANDARDS, LUKE!

[Baloo Ursidae]

Why in the world would anybody still use ICQ when XMPP (formerly known as Jabber) is free, open, an IETF standard, and far more widely available than ICQ, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, or any other proprietary protocol? There's a very good chance you already have an XMPP account and don't even realize it if you have a Livejournal or Google account...

Re:USE THE STANDARDS, LUKE!

[Phroggy]

Because I know of approximately two other people who actually use a Jabber account, and since both of them also use AIM, I don't really see a compelling reason to switch.

How good the protocol is is pretty much irrelevant. It's all about user base.

Re:USE THE STANDARDS, LUKE!

[Baloo Ursidae]

Actually, I just found out that AOL is going to phase out ICQ and AIM in favor of Jabber. Just tell your AIM buddies to start using AOL's Jabber server and they'll be ahead of the curve. Now, unless you're some kind of Microsoft bigot, there's no reason NOT to use the standard!

Re:If they do that, it's going to be suicide for I

[Baloo Ursidae]

Why do people use alternative clients? Easy reason: To have one client able to access many IM networks.

Or it's the default IM program in their desktop environment. I use Pidgin, but it's not like I use anything other than XMPP.

In other news...

[anlprb]

My PowWow account just stopped connecting...

This just in ...

[dmarcov]

Also in other news, the Bell System claims Touch-Tone a threat to the nation's telephone network and prohibits them.

Oh come on

[Trogre]

This is just an incremental version update. For the licq client at least, it's a one-byte fix in /usr/bin/licq

Pidgin working again...

[chadbryant]

Version 2.4.3 was released in near-record time to fix the ICQ problem in 2.4.2. http://www.pidgin.im/

they want to reset the big-int?

[Anonymous Coward]

hahaha......back to 0

Adium is fine now

[sydbarrett74]

Adium pushed out an update and I have no problem connecting to ICQ. Not an issue here....

I remember ICQ...

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember being a diehard ICQ fan back when I had dialup and that whenever anyone tried to get me on MSN i thought 'no fuck this, it has too many open windows to chat with people' and stopped using it. then I got a faster computer that could handle more than 3 windows at once and I eventually migrated to MSN like most of my friends did. I havent used anything else in a long time either.

I do miss the random chat option though. Searching for people to talk with youve never met was very entertaining and led to pranking pretty easily.

Obscure Security Fix ?

[coretx]

ICQ 6 - HTML Injection & execution ? http://www.milw0rm.com/video/watch.php?id=75 Here you can see the vulnerability in action. ICQ renders useing IE ... :'( Does it have to do something with this news ;)

My ICQ Recovery Story

[DangerousRhythm]

I stopped using ICQ earlier this year when my low-seven digit account number was hijacked. ICQ provides ZERO methods of getting hijacked accounts back.

I still have my old 16xxxxx number and mine was actually hijacked by some Russians because I hadn't updated my email on ICQ for nearly a decade and mail.com (and all associated URLs) apparently released a bunch of old email addresses and these Russians made a game of it and registered all the mail.com addresses they could with former account names and were able to retrieve passwords of older ICQ accounts like mine.

Anyway, I googled my ICQ number and found it posted on a Russian forum where someone said they had captured my number. I was able to retrieve THEIR ICQ info from their profile on the forum, including an address and a work phone number. I made a note of everything and had my Russian friend roughly translate the posts for me to confirm my suspicions. It was basically a giant game with a list of numbers that all had mail.com addresses and a competition to see who could acquire the most accounts with the lowest numbers. A quick look on eBay saw some of these lower digit numbers being sold. ICQ showed zero interest when I sent them all of the information I'd found out and I never even got a reply back from mail.com when I told them their accounts were being exploited. Nobody cared, not too surprisingly.

A couple of months later, I saw my account online one night and confronted the hijacker, who denied any knowledge of my account existing before he got it. He couldn't deny it for long because I noticed him changing my information as we talked and called him on it. I bugged the hell out of the guy, insulting him and saying he wasn't much of a big man if he had to steal an ICQ account from a girl. He finally gave me back my account and changed my password to "Nice(myname)" so I could access it again.

ICQ was indeed no help and mail.com were even less of a help in the matter. I had to take it all into my own hands and hey... I still have the account. First thing I did before I changed the password was to change my default email address, lest the hijacker get the brand new password.

My lesson learned: always keep your email info up-to-date, especially if it's free crapmail.