Shawn Knight

#TBT ICQ, short for "I Seek You," laid the groundwork for instant messaging clients when it debuted in November 1996. Think about how long ago that was... Windows 95 was barely a year old, Nintendo had just introduced the N64, and those with a reason to have a cell phone actually used it to talk on.

Read the full article here.

What Ever Happened to ICQ?

gcarter

Ah ICQ... how I miss thee. I remember first subscribing in the late nineties as I had just moved to a new city and was looking to make some new contacts on the way.

One of the best features (ironically would be considered one of the most perverse nowadays) was the people search function. You could literally narrow down your search to sex, country, city, online status!

I remember having 10+ chat windows all open at the same time, as one endeavoured to make new friends and acquaintances in a strange new city!

If I hadn't used ICQ back in the day, I wouldn't have met the person who eventually introduced me to my future wife

Julio Franco

Users were issued a unique User Identification Number, or UIN, upon registration. This number (I somehow still remember mine by heart some 20 years later)

This... my old UIN 5431887, call me up

psycros

UINs are great because you don't have to play the Facebook guessing game of "will the real whoever please stand up". Also (at least back then) ICQ didn't try to triangulate every detail of your private life and market you to death. Most of my friends switched to MSN Messenger almost as soon as it was introduced so I didn't spend much time on ICQ.

Digitalzone

In my country there was quick switch from ICQ to FB chat. Sadly. I remember having alternative clients like Miranda, which had transparency and looked really great.
What really crippled chatting was move from open protocols to proprietaty. You could have FB chat in other clients, not anymore.

Khanonate

Ahhh, the good old days! We were using ICQ to plan our attacks PC games and/or .....

Draconian

I remember my UIN, too. It just came to me, despite the fact that I haven't used ICQ in 15+ years.

I was an early user, so my UIN was only 6 digits long.

SpatulaCity

Download software from a Russian company on a Russian domain, no thanks. I'm sure Russian programmers are excellent at what they do but I feel there's too much of a risk if there being some kind of nefarious back door included.

Experimentongod

For me what happened was:

ICQ => Windows/MSN Messenger => Skype/Whatsapp
People just migrated

Igrecman

I remember when it came out, it was working with Windows 3.11
So it wasn't totally depending on the new popularity of Windows 95.

Girus

Nope. My UIN doesn't work anymore. I think old accounts were wiped.

misor

Julio Franco said:
Users were issued a unique User Identification Number, or UIN, upon registration. This number (I somehow still remember mine by heart some 20 years later)

Click to expand...

This... my old UIN 5431887, call me up

so is the 'modern ICQ' a dating app for old farts?

j/k
happy holidays everyone!

flyboydale54

If I could get back my old contacts, I would download it in a heartbeat. Loved chatting with others all over the world. Miss my ICQ.

cerealkeller

ICQ, I used it to hook up with girls in high school. Of course I used to use FB to hook up more recently. The internet has gotten me laid plenty of times, thanks internet!

Pugwash

I have fond memories as my wife and I met in 1999 through ICQ

McComas

I can't relate to other countries, but in Belgium the first mayor downfall came when Trillian loomed. You could reach people that weren’t on ICQ, but on other IM-suppliers. So I stopped logging in on my direct ICQ-account. On Trillian, you could see that, over here, hardly no one was on Yahoo Messenger, but hey, everybody was using MSN.

The popular rise of MSN was the second mayor blow for ICQ. MSN was the more popular tool, while ICQ was perceived as something for the more ‘techy’ or ‘nerdy’ people.

The deadblow was Facebook.

WhatsApp reminds me a bit of the old IM’s.

McComas

McComas said:
I can't relate to other countries, but in Belgium the first mayor downfall came when Trillian loomed. You could reach people that weren’t on ICQ, but on other IM-suppliers. So I stopped logging in on my direct ICQ-account. On Trillian, you could see that, over here, hardly no one was on Yahoo Messenger, but hey, everybody was using MSN. apkjunky

The deadblow was Facebook.

WhatsApp reminds me a bit of the old IM’s.

The popular rise of MSN was the second mayor blow for ICQ. MSN was the more popular tool, while ICQ was perceived as something for the more ‘techy’ or ‘nerdy’ people.

SolarisGuru

39390647

koblongata

OMG I think I still remember my account number, but sadly not the password.

0dium

Decided to download it a few months ago. Completely different thing now, no reason to even look at it.

Uncle Al

It was great in it's day but got passed by .... pity

Squid Surprise

Wow... it still has all of my contacts... but you need to enter a phone number "by law"... I'd like to know whose law that is...

corvard

Squid Surprise said:
Wow... it still has all of my contacts... but you need to enter a phone number "by law"... I'd like to know whose law that is...

Russian law, I think.

EClyde

It is not long ago

EClyde

cerealkeller said:
ICQ, I used it to hook up with girls in high school. Of course I used to use FB to hook up more recently. The internet has gotten me laid plenty of times, thanks internet!

Funny

Shawn Knigh

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