ICQ will stop working on June 26. It’s encouraging users to migrate to a messaging app from Russia-based VK, its parent company.

I stopped using ICQ in the very early 00s. I didn’t know anything of it still remained.

  • Chozo@fedia.io
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    6 months ago

    I had no idea ICQ was even still operational. Good on them for making it as long as they did.

    I was never an ICQ user, but it’s always sad seeing such long-standing icons of the internet shut down.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      it’s always sad seeing such long-standing icons of the internet shut down.

      A reminder of how much fun Web 1.0 was, not the walled-gardened, enshittified, corporatized, ad-riddled rage baiter it is now.

      • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I always said way back in the early 2000s that once corporations figured out the internet, it and society in general would be very screwed. Their early attempts at trying to make things go viral and create engagement were laughably bad. Then they hired a bunch of psychologists and sociologists, bought up everything, and the rest is history.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Man, I am so sad now.

        I miss the original internet. Back when it was a place for nerds and geeks, before commercial exploitation and SEO and Adpocalypse

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The early version of what’s now Microsoft’s game suite in Windows was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the Internet. It was a virtual gaming village where you could go sit at tables and play chess or checkers or cards with people from around the world. It worked 100% fine on 14.4k dialup.

        Microsoft bought whatever that was and completely ruined it, just like they ruin everything else they buy.

        • Murdoc@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          That just reminded me of something I tried that was similar, I think it was called Visual Chat? It looked like a 2D cartoon, but each person controlled an avatar and could move around and talk to each other, go to other rooms, change expression, gesture, etc.

          Microsoft bought whatever that was and completely ruined it, just like they ruin everything else they buy.

          It’s like the Midas touch: they make it shiny, expensive, and of little use.

          • bus_factor@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            You probably mean Comic Chat. It was actually just an IRC client, and I think it’s still usable (but frustratingly ineffective) today. But there is a website where you can convert IRC logs to it, I think.

    • db2@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Good on them for making it as long as they did.

      They didn’t though, it was sold to a Russian company many years ago.

  • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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    6 months ago

    Two wtf here.

    One, icq was still online? I stopped using that one aim got popular and everyone had it.

    And two, vk owns icq??

    • cantrips@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      ICQ may be going away but that message sound effect will continue living rent free in my brain until I’m dead.

      • Piranha Phish@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I’ve heard that exact sound used on some computers (lottery maybe?) in gas stations in the US. I’m not sure why they picked that exact sound, but it’s definitely distinct and recognizable.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    Okay, can we all acknowledge that ICQ died when they nuked pretty much all of the accounts for no good reason?

    While it’s true it’s shutting down, it was effectively dead for years. This is just the death rattle.

    • meseek #2982@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      Yeah I stopped around the same time. But I didn’t know they were run by VK. That’s interesting.

      • bus_factor@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        They were acquired recently.

        Mirabilis created ICQ. AOL bought Mirabilis in 1998. Russian investor DST (which soon became Mail.ru and later VK) bought ICQ from AOL in 2010, probably because Russians were among the few nationalities still using it. Russians were over 25% of the hits, and it was the biggest instant messenger in Russia at the time. They also own VKontakte, hence why they’re directing people there.

    • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.deOP
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      6 months ago

      Those are protocols, so the servers/services that run than can come and go. XMPP, which was at least inspired by ICQ, will probably be around forever, similarly.

  • machinin@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I met an interesting Argentinian girl through ICQ. A co-worker ended up getting their inbox filled with large attachments from an overseas office with fast internet. We were still on dial-up. We just had pop3 access, no online front end. I stayed in the office over night to download the files so the connection wouldn’t be interrupted by someone else accessing the line. To pass the time, I downloaded ICQ and started chatting with the Argentinian girl. She introduced me to this song.

    Great memories.

  • Johannes Jacobs@lemmy.jhjacobs.nl
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    6 months ago

    knock knock knock in the middle of the nicht because i forgot to turn off my speakers, and the whole household would wake up 😂

    Oh wauw! I think ICQ 98b was the best version ever! Then everyone switched to MSN, and down hill went the internet (for me anyway)

  • nucleative@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Icq was bought a while ago and the buyer nuked the original user database. Not long ago I found my login info saved on an old zip drive and tried it. Was hoping my old buddies might still be there, hahahah.

    Nope, icq as most remember it was toast maybe a decade ago.

  • snowday@sopuli.xyz
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    6 months ago

    I wonder how many old accounts I have from my childhood floating around, long forgotten, created well before the days of using a password manager