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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."

18 of 347 comments (clear)

  1. Miranda still working. by urbanriot · · Score: 4, Informative

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

  2. Re:IC what? by urbanriot · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  3. Wrong title! by Tester · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  4. Adium is already updated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    And working just fine at this very moment.

  5. Adium already fixed by Per+Wigren · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    My other account has a 3-digit UID.
  6. Kopete works by HappySmileMan · · Score: 4, Informative

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

  7. Pidgin (GAIM) Already fixed by Achra · · Score: 4, Informative

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

    --
    Each processor would proceed sequentially as if it had been better for them not to rise against Saul.
  8. Adium 1.2.6 fixes it by McDutchie · · Score: 3, Informative

    Adium 1.2.6 is now out which fixes ICQ connectivity.

  9. Re:IC what? by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  10. Re:ICQ? by ari_j · · Score: 3, Informative

    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!"

  11. Re:IC what? by yincrash · · Score: 5, Informative

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

  12. No, you don't. :) by Balinares · · Score: 3, Informative

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

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    -- B.
    This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
  13. Re:ICQ is still around? Wow by multipartmixed · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --

    Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
  14. Re:IC what? by PIBM · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  15. Re:ICQ? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  16. In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ by tetromino · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ by Dirtside · · Score: 4, Informative

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

      --
      "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
  17. Oh come on by Trogre · · Score: 3, Informative

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

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife