ICQ

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ICQ 5.1 running under Windows XP displaying the login window
Developer:	AOL
Latest release:	5.1 build #3000 / July 11, 2006
OS:	Windows, Macintosh, mobile phones
Use:	Instant messaging client
License:	Freeware
Website:	icq.com

ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, owned by Time Warner's AOL subsidiary. The first version of the program was released in November 1996. The name ICQ is a play (an oronym) on the phrase "I seek you".

1 Features
2 UIN
3 History
4 Versions
5 Other products
6 Clients
7 References in media
8 Criticism
9 See also
10 External links
11 References

[edit] Features

ICQ features include sending text messages with offline support, multi-user chats, Free daily-limited SMS sending, resumable file transfers, greeting cards and multiplayer games. Other features included a searchable user directory and POP3 email support.

ICQ users are identified by numbers called UIN, distributed in sequential order. New users are now given a UIN of well over 300,000,000, and low numbers (six or five digits) have been auctioned on eBay by users who signed up in ICQ's early days.^[1] Since 2000, ICQ and AIM users are able to add each other to their contact list without the need of any external clients.^[2]

[edit] UIN

UIN was coined by Mirabilis, to be used as the name of the so called Universal Internet Number or Unified Identification Number that each user of the ICQ instant messaging software is assigned upon registration^[3]^[4]. Unlike most other instant messaging programs, in ICQ the only information that is permanent to a registered user is the UIN, although users are able to search for users by their e-mail address, much like MSN, or in fact any other detail that the user made public about himself or herself. The screen name may be changed at will, without having to re-register, as can all other kinds of user information, including e-mail.

[edit] History

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ICQ was developed in 1996 by Mirabilis, the creators of the first fully functional Internet-wide instant messenger comprising presence, buddy list and rapid messaging; the company was founded by four young Israelis: Yair Goldfinger, Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir. After AOL bought it, it was managed by Ariel Yarnitsky and Avi Shechter.

America Online (AOL) acquired Mirabilis on June 8, 1998 for $407 million, ($287 million in cash and $120 million over a three-year period based on growth performance levels).

ICQ 2000 and ICQ 2001 incorporated Notes and Reminder features. Both are now defunct.

On December 19, 2002, AOL Time Warner announced that ICQ had been issued a United States patent for instant messaging (U.S. Patent 6,449,344 ).^[5]

ICQ Pro 2003b was the first ICQ version to use the ICQ protocol version 10. However, ICQ 5 and 5.1 use version 9 of the protocol. ICQ 2002 and 2003a used version 8 of the ICQ protocol. Earlier versions (ICQ 2001b and all ICQ clients before it) used ICQ protocol version 7.

In June 2004 ICQ celebrated its 300 millionth download from download.com.

ICQ 4 and later ICQ 5 (released on Monday, February 7, 2005), were upgrades on ICQ Lite — a divergence from the main ICQ program that has a big addition — Xtraz, which now offers games and features appealing to the younger users of the Internet. ICQ Lite was originally an idea to offer the lighter users of instant messaging an alternative client which was a smaller download and less resource-hungry for the (then) relatively slow computers.

As its user base increased, ICQ software has grown to include many features. It now has competitors providing more streamlined client software, including: Windows Live Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger (Y!M or Y!IM), AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Skype, and Google Talk.

ICQ 6, sheduled for release in 2007, will be the next big update of ICQ since ICQ 4. It is rumoured that ICQ 6 will incorporate both ICQ Lite and ICQ Pro features.^{[citation needed]} More information about ICQ 6 can be found at ICQ.com Download.

[edit] Versions

ICQ (ICQ "Classic"):

ICQ 1.111, ICQ 1.113 (1997)
ICQ 98a, ICQ 98b (1998)
ICQ 99a, ICQ 99b (1999)
ICQ 2000a, ICQ 2000b (2000)
ICQ 2001a, ICQ 2001b (2001)
ICQ 2002a, ICQ 2002b (2002)
ICQ 2003a (2003)

ICQ Pro:

ICQ Pro 2003b (2003)

ICQ Lite:

ICQ Lite
ICQ Lite 4 (2004)
ICQ 5 (2005)
ICQ 5.1 (current) (2006)
ICQ 6 (forthcoming) (2007)

[edit] Other products

ICQ Pro came about since the emergence of ICQ Lite to differentiate between the two available clients. Though the "Pro" brand has yet to be updated, ICQ versions 4, 5 and 5.1 are in effect updates to the veteran 2003 Pro version, which is commonly considered to be "version 3".

Also available is "ICQ2Go" which is an online, minimalistic version of the fully fledged software, written in Flash, or its older version using Java.

ICQ inc. also developed an alpha version of Compad, an experimental instant messaging client similar to ICQ, though it is not available for worldwide use.

Spinoffs of ICQ included a corporate version for the workplace (named ICQ Groupware), and ICQ Surf, which displayed a list of other ICQ users who also happened to be surfing on the same website as the user was. Both programs are no longer available to download.

[edit] Clients

AOL's OSCAR network protocol used by ICQ is proprietary, but a number of people have created more or less compatible third-party clients, including:

Adium - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, Google Talk, and Jabber, for Mac OS X
Ayttm - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, and Jabber
centericq - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC and Jabber, text-based
Communication Tube (Official site) - through this page you can login to ICQ , MSN , GTalk. No software will be installed on your PC.
Easy message (http://www.easymessage.net/) - Small instant messenger (250kb), supports MSN, AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo!.
eMP.CQ! (http://www.ewiz.de/blog) - Compact instant messenger, no DLL/registry spread, extensioin for Unreal Tournament players
FAIM (Official site) - Flat Assembler Instant Messenger, the most compact ICQ client among messengers (34 Kb). No extra functions. You can participate in developing FAIM.
Fire - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, and Jabber, for Mac OS X
Gaim - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, and others
GnomeICU (previously GtkICQ)
iChat - Mac only client
Jimm (http://www.jimm.org/) (Java ME client, previously "Mobicq")
Kopete
Licq
Meebo (Official site) - Ajax-based, supports ICQ, AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, and Jabber
Meetro (Official site) IM and social networking combined with location; supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!
mICQ - text-based
Miranda IM - plugin based, open source, supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, Google Talk, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, BNet, and others. For MS Windows only.
NanoICQ (Official site) - Supports ICQ only, uses wxPython GUI, cross-platform (Linux/Windows)
Proteus - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Japan, AIM, MSN, Jabber and iChat Rendezvous, for Mac OS X
SIM (official site)
stICQ - supports ICQ, for Symbian OS
Trillian - supports ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, Google Talk, Jabber and others
QIP (Official site) Quiet Internet Pager - ICQ, AIM and public servers client
Yeemp - supports ICQ, AIM, and Yeemp
YSM - text-based
&RQ (ICQ)(official site) - Support ICQ only , available in Russian and English only.
Smarticq (official site) ICQ client for mIRC.

AOL has recently begun making its ICQ software more AIM-like by adding AIM Smilies, as well as introducing cross AIM/ICQ communication. Users on ICQ are able to communicate with AIM users; however, such capability is in beta stages.

[edit] References in media

ICQ, a short film about ICQ, was directed by Greg McLean, who later wrote Wolf Creek. The film was described by its writer as a mystery/drama, and it concerns a man who while surfing the ICQ network comes across a woman whose acquaintance he could well have done without. The relationship runs the gauntlet of intrigue through to the sinister. It was released in 2001.

The short film took out the "Best Director" award in October 2001 at the International and Independent Film and Video festival in New York. On return to his home soil in Australia, McLean's film was nominated for Best Sound Design (short film) for the prestigious AFI (Australian Film Institute) awards in 2002.

ICQ is referenced in the Prozzak song "It's Not Me, It's You" from their 2000 album "Saturday People"^[6]: "Prophecy came true, Message coming through, Click on ICQ, Parting words of love denied are..." ^[7]

ICQ plays an important role in a Polish popular novel Samotność w sieci (Loneliness in the Net) as its main protagonists accidentally find each other in the Internet and, via ICQ, they develop a passionate feeling.

[edit] Criticism

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ICQ has been criticized mainly for its security. Users report receiving SPAM messages either from other users, or, more commonly, from ICQ bots.

ICQ Pro 2003b was reported to have a vulnerability.^{[citation needed]} AOL is advising users of its ICQ instant messaging service to update to the latest version of the ICQ software following the discovery of a bug in an older version of the product. Although the bug doesn't affect more recent ICQ software like ICQ 5.1, it could mean serious problems for ICQ Pro 2003b users. According to Max Caceres, director of product management at Core, a vendor of penetration testing software, hackers would attack a PC by sending a maliciously encoded instant message to any ICQ Pro 2003b user connected to the service. Victims "don't have to do anything at all," Caceres says. "Just by being there, someone can send them a message, and they can be compromised."

ICQ Lite versions ICQ 4, ICQ 5 and ICQ 5.1 are being criticized for being not really Lite, but cluttered and heavy. ^{[citation needed]}

ICQ 5 and ICQ 5.1 are criticized for being full of too much eye-candy and some of the veteran ICQ users find the games, included in the Xtraz center as silly and only suitable for children 0-8, although ICQ software is intended for use of people above 13 years of age. ^{[citation needed]} Some child-rights activists ^{[citation needed]} find this rule as 'strange', because children around 11 years of age, in their own words, should have the possibility of using messaging software.

[edit] See also

Comparison of instant messaging clients
QQ - a separate Chinese instant messenger and network which had its previous name, OICQ, in conflict with ICQ.
Yamigo - a service that allows ICQ chat via mobile phones over GPRS or other wireless data protocols