ICQ Starts Blocking Alternative Clients 347
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."
IC what? (Score:4, Insightful)
In other news... people still use ICQ?
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:IC what? (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.
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Funny)
QQ dominates the IM market in China.
Funny. QQ also dominates many of the Blizzard WoW forums [worldofwarcraft.com] as well.
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The same can be said for AIM in the US and MSN in parts of Europe...
It's disturbing, and a problem, all these disconnected networks.
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Yes, ICQ is still big in China (Oicq) and Russia...
So when the invasion happens, we Americans will have to start using ICQ again? Noooooooooooooo!
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Funny)
So when the invasion happens, we Americans will have to start using ICQ again? Noooooooooooooo!
"Uh oh!"
In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ (Score:5, Informative)
Re:In Russia, instant messenging == ICQ (Score:5, Informative)
This probably explains why my ICQ account gets at least one or two random spam add requests in Cyrillic every day.
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And its the same in Czech republic, Poland, Germany ... etc etc ...
Not having ICQ gets you weird looks just like having no cell phone. Mentioning that you use Messenger and asking someone whats his Messenger id makes you look like looser/outcast.
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously. The last time I used ICQ, I remember my geeky friend named Devin inviting me over to his house. We were talking about the hot new character on the current Star Trek show named Seven of Nine.
So, for what it's worth, if ICQ reminds me of Jeri Ryan... it can't be that bad, right?
Re:IC what? (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.
Re:IC what? (Score:4, Funny)
Working (as) flawlessly (as possible) with pidgin 2.1.1 here. Just tried.
What is all this fuss about ? Maybe people are really using old versions and the server is right ?
Oh ? You mean ICQ server are refusing your 5 years old client ? Shocking.
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Re:IC what? (Score:5, Funny)
Assimilated. Sweet Jesus, man...I'm not even a Trekkie and I know that.
The gentlemen at the door will be taking your geek card. Open enrollment is in 2 months, you may reapply then.
Re:IC what? (Score:4, Funny)
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Just like I'm sure there's people running old DOS apps I'm sure someone still uses ICQ. Of course they'll most likely be using an official client.
I stopped using ICQ about 2003, the spammers started to use it more.
Still, it was notable for having offline messages long before MSN and AIM did.
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When were those? I got in on ICQ pretty early, and upon turning that feature on got immediately solicited/trolled.
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7 digits, starting with 596 :) Take that!
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Funny)
I beat all of you, my ICQ consists entirely of the batman symbol and the symbol for the artist formerly known as prince, alternating.
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Funny)
Three digits, starting with a '6'.
"Please allow me to introduce myself...
I'm a man of wealth and taste..."
[collective gasp]
C'mon, c'mon! Just kiddin!
Cheers!
Strat
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127001?
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they dont even bother with URLS and they're not exactly going to pass the turning test any time soon.
ken...s25:Â Gotta Sec nwbmv ;)dpouykmidm
rio...ist:Â Yes i do actually, hello.
ken...s25:Â qiqwtHey rioting_pacifist, how r u?fgyab
rio...ist:Â Im ok thx you?
ken...s25:Â ohbgcdo u remember me?qjrgjndxtp
rio...ist:Â Yeah, i sleep wth your mum.
ken...s25:Â iyszuit's, Amanda!vtihiokcxs
rio...ist:Â Yeah and your younger sister.
ken...s25:Â lvyklhey ÂU lookin' for a date sometime this week?dvumbwe can meet somewhere close by
rio...ist:Â Actually im sort of busy with all the monther/sister fucking.
ken...s25:Â fntnihere is my pic Âhttp://www.%68o%6fk%2dup%73-%72%2d%75%73%2eco%6d do u think i'm cute? uptogfjepc znwgx
rio...ist:Â No, your ugly as fuck, thats why im sleeping with your sister & mum.
ken...s25:Â czfuncheck out my profile 4 my contact info http://www.hook-ups-r-us.com/ [hook-ups-r-us.com] tslbjsjjbe whxee
rio...ist:Â Its ok i know where you live, due to being round there screwwing your relatives.
ken...s25:Â emkmmtake a look @ my profile http://www.adulthook-ups.net/ [adulthook-ups.net] pyedwdueew envon
rio...ist:Â Are you the one with the penis?
ken...s25:Â xstqhtake a look @ my profile http://www.hook-ups-r-us.com/ [hook-ups-r-us.com] bbgqfzgqjq ousuj
rio...ist:Â I just did, you have a penis!!!
ken...s25:Â eicqntake a look @ my profile http://www.hook-ups-r-us.com/ [hook-ups-r-us.com] brthchyffr xuoad
rio...ist:Â Not again, my eyes! i feal like gouging them out with a spork.
unfortunatly slashdot decodes the URLs because they are normalling in the stupid %6f form
Re:IC what? (Score:5, Informative)
One more proof... (Score:3, Insightful)
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99501, please report to central for re-education.
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Miranda still working. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Miranda still working. (Score:5, Insightful)
The summary is wrong. They don't block alternative clients but an old version of the protocol. Alternative clients that emulate the current version are fine.
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That's because ICQ has been read it's Miranda Rights!
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happened with miranda a couple of times already so i think it is just the matter of time.
ICQ is still around? Wow (Score:5, Interesting)
That said, the forum thread is interesting. Looks like the ICQ admins are censoring posts.
Re:ICQ is still around? Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Re:ICQ is still around? Wow (Score:5, Interesting)
Once upon a time ICQ was de-facto standard in Turkey. You know what they did? (AOL shareholders, listen)
They banned the TURKISH CABLE IP BLOCK, the _country_ from reaching their servers. They actually banned Cable ISP monopoly but it was like banning all active, high profile users.
People looked to alternatives, tried proxies (yes,pathetic but needed) and they stared at something which is already installed to their system. Windows (MSN) Messenger. The outcome will amaze you. Microsoft execs are at absolute shock because Turkish MSN _active_ users exceeds 25 million. That is 1/4 of country using a single service.
Hope the idiots banning a country because of couple lamers read this message. Yes, MSN has 25 million users... Thanks to you!
Re:ICQ is still around? Wow (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.
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No, cable ISP. They didn't ban Turk Telecom. Turk Telecom seems to care for spam reports lately (their mail spam rate going lower along with Poland) but they banned the Cable ISP. Imagine there is only Comcast in USA for Cable ISP and rest are 56K running people. You are banning entire Comcast from your network, they did something similar to it.
I still suspect some racial profiling etc. since it is really possible to hunt the individual spammers and if you are at a point of banning an entire ISP block, it i
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Oh the memories.
Unplugging my college roomates computer from the internet (my bed was right infront of the eathernet jacks) because he wouldn't get off the Damn ICQ. If I didn't unplug him, he and me respectivly would be up all night as his keyboard was loud and didn't know how to turn off his speakers. After he gaveup and went to bed I quietly pluged the cable back in. He never learned was the wizer... (he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shead if I didn't want him in the room all I would need to do is dead
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To Add insult to injory I am working on my masters and I have a good GPA.
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Ladies and Gentleman, civilization has ended. Will the last person watching American Idol please turn off the TV before you die?
AOL (Score:5, Funny)
Re:AOL (Score:4, Insightful)
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I always thought they always made good alternatives for clay pidgeons when you have nothing else to shot.
Wrong title! (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, they're forcing windows users to upgrade.. It has nothing to do with blocking alternative clients.
In other news, GnomeICU [sf.net] still works and pidgin has just made a new release with sends a newer version number.
Maybe they could just "un-retard" it (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, on the topic of forcing people to upgrade... maybe if the newer software wasn't so retarded, more people would upgrade. Just a thought.
Admittedly my anecdote isn't comprehensive marketing data and isn't that new either, but just to illustrate a point. So at one point I wanted to communicate with someone who supposedly had only ICQ.
The last version I had used before was, IIRC, 2002a. Or something. At any rate, it was a relatively clean interface, with just the two text-fields needed, and the minimum of buttons that one might need. All in the Windows configured colours, and with sensible icons that are there, but don't scream for attention and don't look like someone flew an airplane into a clown makeup factory. I'm not necessarily a fan of ICQ or AOL, but I could respect that interface.
Well, I figured, wth, let's get the newest version. You know, what with potential security holes and whatnot in older versions. I think the version at the moment was ICQ 4. "With Xtraz!" The l33t (ok, SMS-speak) spelling in a product name should have been warning enough. It was everything that the old version wasn't: retarded and annoying and looking like a desperate scream for attention. IIRC with an ad banner thrown in for good measure too.
I actually went "oh, fuck the security holes, that's why I have an anti-virus and data execution check turned on." I actually uninstalled it and dug through old backup CD-R's to find my trusted old version.
Well, I uninstalled it completely after a few days and never looked back. So I wouldn't know if the even newer versions fixed that or continued down that slope towards software-Alzheimer's.
But just saying... if you find that you have to _force_ people to give up their old versions and use the newer one, even when it's for free (as in beer;)... there may be some subtle hint in there.
And yeah, I know there are other programs one can use instead of the official client. They're just kinda irrelevant for the point I was trying to make, which is about AOL making the users of its official client upgrade.
Adium is already updated (Score:5, Informative)
And working just fine at this very moment.
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After rejecting my password a couple of times three hours ago, it's now working again. Adium as well.
Adium already fixed (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.
ICQ? (Score:2)
I thought ICQ died years ago. Apart from MSN, which I use very rarely, what other IM clients are in common use?
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My non-geek friends use MSN, others use ICQ or jabber (mostly because of gtalk)
I still use IRC too.
My work made me use Skype as well.
Re:ICQ? (Score:4, 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:
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!"
Re:ICQ? (Score:5, Informative)
You != Everyone (Score:3, Insightful)
I thought ICQ died years ago. Apart from MSN, which I use very rarely, what other IM clients are in common use?
Depending your geography and demographics, then you will find the popular IM network is not the same. For example ICQ still has a certain popularity in Eastern Europe, QQ in China and South Africa. Avoid basing global statistics on your own usage habits.
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MSN is big in Europe and Australia. I have to use MSN for it. forutnately all you need is an email address and my gmail one works quite nicely with MSN.
So I can use the same address on gmail and MSN, leaving different one for AIM and yahoo. I haven't used ICQ in a while too much spam when ever I was logged in so I stopped logging in.
Kopete works (Score:5, Informative)
No, you don't. :) (Score:4, Informative)
Kopete updates its version file automatically, so no need to edit anything. Kopete will do it for you.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Hopefully wont spill over into AIM (Score:2)
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ICQ usage in different countries? (Score:2)
In Argentina ICQ is now something you may remember as you remember Altavista, and other ".com" fossils.
(most people use MSN, and geeks use gtalk).
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Hey... I still use Altavista. Though admittedly, mostly for Babelfish. Who doesn't like a game of Babelfish Tag, where you take a simple message like "I like Chinese food", pass it through Babelfish 10 times, and then give it to the person sitting next to you at work so they can guess what the message was. :)
Adium 1.2.6 fixes it (Score:4, Informative)
As spicoli would say (Score:2)
"You Dick!"
Old ICQ doesn't work either (Score:2)
I fired it up last night to talk to some old UO friends. I was told that I would have to upgrade to connect so I did. The new client crashes every time I try to launch it. So, instead I tried Trillian and it worked. Maybe that's changed today; haven't tried yet. I will check it out after this con-call that I'm on.
ICQ = EVIL ? (Score:5, Interesting)
What I like is if you go to the tech forum on ICQ referred to in initial post you'll see that most if not all workarounds have been edited out by ICQ....nice.
Malicious or just an upgrade? (Score:2)
If they changed the protocol as part of an 'upgrade', it only makes sense to block older clients. If a 3rd party isn't 'current' yet and is blocked its not AOL's fault.
AOL Censorship (Score:2, Interesting)
Well at least I know why I wasn't connecting to ICQ earlier.
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Ironically, iChat and Jabber are not censored...
Why is that ironic? Apple has signed a deal with AOL for iChat to be officially supported. Jabber is just a protocol and one AOL has been moving to interoperability with. I wonder if GTalk is being censored as it is an actual alternative client that doesn't use the AIM protocol.
The message from ICQ tells me to upgrade Pidgin (Score:2)
I'm using Adium (haven't upgraded yet) and the message I get is this:
"The client version you are using is too old. Please upgrade at http://pidgin.im"
So I don't think that it's really a matter of freezing out alternative clients. If it were, it would tell me to go get the new official AIM client, not Pidgin. Instead, I think they're just trying to force an upgrade beyond some specific version of libpurple. It could be about security issues, but I haven't really researched it.
Less people can access ICQ... (Score:3, Insightful)
And nothing of value was lost
ICQ has a messaging client? (Score:2)
I thought it was advertisement system with a instant messaging feature in the corner somewhere.
Really though, I put up with the ads for years, and I may well still have been using it, but both AIM and ICQ got so bloated, plus the use of such large, animated ads, with SOUND. If they had just kept it simple, static ads, I'd never have bothered with a 3rd party client, and would still be getting their ads.
Yeah, I don't suppose it's right to still use the service without getting the ads (I use it far less now,
If they do that, it's going to be suicide for ICQ (Score:2)
Why do people use alternative clients? Easy reason: To have one client able to access many IM networks.
You know what it's like. You have a few friends that use ICQ, others that use YM, still others that use something completely different... and you'd have to install 10 clients just to keep in touch with all of them.
What do you do instead? You install one client that handles all.
And what do you do when your client stops working for a certain network because its maker decides to disallow the use of third part
Bragging rights (Score:2)
I keep my low ICQ number because it is even older than my slashdot ID.
Kinda sad (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll miss ICQ when they shut it down. I haven't gotten a real message from it in years (I think - I don't really pay attention to which service in Kopete I'm getting messages from), but I can't bring myself to stop connecting.
I have a very low 7-digit ID from right after it came out. It was pretty cool to be able to randomly chat with friends without having to log into an IRC channel and wait for them to remember to come online. One time I even bought a girl a computer for Valentine's Day just so I could talk to her while I was at my ISP tech support job; we ended up getting married.
ICQ sucks and it's spammy and doesn't do anything cool, but there's a lot of nostalgia in that crusty old system. I'll be sad the day when my login stops working for the last time.
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Oh, so that's how to solve that puzzle. I tried the flowers, champagne, dinner, jewelry methods.
BTW, was it a girl you already knew?
--thanks in advance for the relationship advice.
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We'd been dating for a couple of months by then. I think I just got lucky though, and I doubt more women would like hardware than jewelry.
ICQ, the socially conscious IM (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, you can configure your clients differently, but I'm talking about the default behavior. And even if you are courteous enough to not set it to send your message every time you press enter, your friends won't, and you'll still be getting one-liners that could have waited until they were finished typing their whole idea.
[Flashing Yellow Notecard] (Score:3, Interesting)
No problems with my Trillian v3.1 Basic. (Score:3, Informative)
No problems at home and work. I wonder why other clients had problems.
Oh come on (Score:4, Informative)
This is just an incremental version update. For the licq client at least, it's a one-byte fix in /usr/bin/licq [licq.org]
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And now that you mention it, I can remember mine too!
wow.
Good call on their part to make them 7 digits long (at least at first) so that people likened them to phone numbers.
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Mine is 6 (Score:2)
Re:Mine is 6 (Score:5, Funny)
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Yeah, and how do you think *I* feel? :-/ and yeah, napster was great... sure it was back in the days of dialup, but there were actually choices and stuff to download; well worth the time spent compared to the stuff i can get on limewire/frostwire.
Sure, I could just use iTunes or something, but its not worth the dollar and the hassle.
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Napster? I remember uudecoding with a Vax. A
Now, get the hell off my lawn!
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My ICQ number was in the 386,000 range... can't remember the last 3 digits. Of course, I haven't used it since 1999, so I doubt the account is still up and running.
My big concern about this is whether this is a test to measure reaction before they start blocking 3rd party clients on AIM, which I do use. (though mostly I'm on Yahoo and MSN)
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I've got a six digit number, and I still use it. Mostly it's just for work contacts, but I still have a few friends and family that pop up from time to time. I login with Kopete and so far no problems.
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It's not always fun to be old school. Every time I go online in a Source engine game, people always look up my Steam ID and constantly harass me with offers to buy it (it's 4 digits).
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I stopped using ICQ earlier this year when my low-seven digit account number was hijacked. ICQ provides ZERO methods of getting hijacked accounts back.
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Yahoo ignored the chance to move to the XMPP protocol and they decided to merge with MSN giving hell to BOTH networks users especially if one dares to use MSN with @yahoo.com e-mail. There is also a mysterious increase of spam/malware since that merge.
Every single "clone" will suck unless the networks use a completely documented protocol which is XMPP. I really admire Google guys to use that protocol, they could go with some "Google IM protocol" crap and nobody could say a word about it. Now there is a very
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The only reason I use ICQ is because you can send inline images. If anybody can point me to any other protocol that also supports it would be most appreciated.
AIM supports inline images and it works with my client (just tested it). It doesn't seem to work with Jabber and my client though, but I can't say that is the protocol instead of the client.