Is ICQ dead?
 

You know, I was thinking the other day... A couple of years ago, there was a major migration from ICQ to MSN Messenger (mainly because ICQ had lots of problems, like spam and those annoying URL message boxes...), that, in my opinion, is lighter than ICQ and easier to use (and your nick changes instantly in the other computers, what doesn't happen in ICQ... You have to change it manually).

Nowadays, most people have both ICQ and MSNM, but most of them don't even talk on ICQ (like me, I just leave ICQ (2003) running in the background). For the first time, ppl's choice awards were awarded to MSNM, instead of the always-favourite ICQ...

Do you think that ICQ is dead? They've made some attemps to match MSNM's functions, like avatars, but that made the program too heavy, imo...

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

ICQ is bloatware. Even the light version is bloated. And, besides that, the amount of spam and hacking possibilities make it so non-popular that it ougta dissapear in this scene unless they completely rewrite it and make it fast + reliable.

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

I used ICQ before I went on IRC only.

Now adays i don't use ICQ nor MSN.
Not ICQ cos i got IRC
Not MSN cos i got IRC and I don't wanne use microsoft network to communicate.

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

I use Trillian, and from I see the most popular one is YIM.

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

msn.. irc is not replacer for msn or icq..
its different.. and serve another perpose..

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

still using icq and not having problems with spams, hacks, whatever. a lot of other students use it too, so I stick to it.

@stefan: you are referring to the 'normal' icq software as bloatware, not the protocol I guess ... and there are several other clients, so that shouldnt be a big problem

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

centericq :)
and I like ICQ because you can send message even if guy on the other side is offline

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

Gaim is what I prefer to use:
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/

It's a free open source multi protocol instant messenger client which supports ICQ, MSN, Jabber and more.

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

Miranda, which is like Trillian and Gaim... only much smaller, not bloated at all, and all plugin-based :) I suggest you give it a look.

Though last time I reformatted, I went lazy and clicked "yes" to MSN messenger. Now I stick to it, because it's enough for my purposes, it's integrated with Windows and I'm a lazy bastard :D

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

I've heard of Miranda... Never used it though, always sticed to Trillian (which is still buggy after 3 years) and Gaim, that I've been using when I'm on linux.

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

I'd argue here, the only reason people 'migrated' to MSNM, was because it avaliable on all machines by default..

Why go through the trouble of downloading ICQ, when you can click on an option that already exists?

The only reason i use ICQ, is because there is no limit on the ammount of text you can send in 1 IM, so you can paste a lot of code and not have to chop it up.

I use trillian now, AIM, ICQ (both owned by the same company..), MSN, YIM

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

Not all, Macs and Linux don't come with MSNM installed (there isn't a linux version... :P), and even with windows, the older versions, like 98, didn't come with MSNM installed, that's a more WinXP thing, mostly because most ppl didn't install 2000 when it came out (including me). I dunno if 2000 came with MSNM installed, but I doubt.

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

no, Linux and Mac dont come with MSN, but seeing as a majority of the world use windows, MSN is the norm there, people have had to conform to it. Download *nix packages for MSN, so they can speak to their windows friends :p

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

i'd still us IRC preferably.
main chat and personal chat with option to leave message. =)

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

you'll never see me using IRC!

*hides his sig*

Re: Is ICQ dead?
 

I'm using MSN in GAIM :)

however I don't log into my MSN account very often, as I don't like to have lots of message popup

once I've heard ICQ's "auto update" feature contains spyware, so I don't use ICQ. And I think MSN is getting more users as it's included with current versions of Windows (just like IE vs. Netscape)