Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by raquo on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @10:26AM
(#1301602)
Tip: Setting Falkland Islands as my location and clearing age and gender helped me get about 95% less spam in Skype. (On ICQ the decrease in spam was noticable, but not so big).
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by rit on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @09:49AM
(#1301520)
I still have one but I never actually log in - got the 6 digit even (#924218). I didn't realize it was an active, viable service still. At least at a level of independent value that makes it worth selling off.
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by rit on Monday May 03, 2010 @11:37AM
(#1314963)
Yup - it was pervasive when I first used it. It was an amazing way to tie in people from diff. online communities with whom I'd otherwise have much less interaction.
At one point I recall them moving ICQ To the Oscar (early AIM) protocol but it was dying by then, replaced with the other 800000 IM systems available.
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by henrikschroder on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @10:20AM
(#1301596)
I have a 6-digit UIN, and I get bombarded daily with russian spam.
Then again, I almost never talk to someone over ICQ so I could just shut it down, but then again I'm running Miranda so one more protocol doesn't bother me much.
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by ruslan on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @09:41AM
(#1301490)
There's a great and unstoppable tendency in Russia to switch to Jabber, so I wonder why would someone want to invest huge pile of money into almost dead service based on a centuary old technology? Either investors are dumb or there's some grassroot movement involved.
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by dhyasama on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @10:40AM
(#1301630)
I'd guess the latter as DST doesn't seem to be dumb. They are heavily invested in Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and others. DST investors include Goldman Sachs and Tencent. They have been doing a lot of deals lately partly because they offer cash and will purchase employee stock. Both are nice when IPOs are so rare.
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by ugh on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @11:05AM
(#1301694)
Everyone I know uses ICQ. (I’m in Germany.) They might also use Skype but that is by no means a given. It’s a truly dreadful situation. I wish it were different but it isn’t.
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by dchest on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @11:03AM
(#1301691)
There's a great and unstoppable tendency in Russia to switch to Jabber
Are you use you're not talking about geeks having an unstoppable tendency in Russia to switch to Jabber? Isn't the second most popular IM Mail.ru Agent, which is also owned by DST?
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by raquo on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @01:53PM
(#1302167)
It may be unstoppable in the long run but it's far from prevailing. ICQ is in no danger of extinction in the coming 5-7 years for sure, especially with parters like Yandex and Rambler. And, well, network effects, you know. Most normal* web-connected people use it in Russia, as you know.
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by jsn on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @11:38AM
(#1301792)
Ya, really. I'm in Russia, I'm on jabber since forever, ditched ICQ completely 2 or 3 years ago -- I just don't need it anymore, almost everybody I know is on jabber already.
(admittedly, quitting Skype is noticeably harder).
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by zavulon on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @11:22AM
(#1301749)
It's not crap. It's the most popular IM service in Russia and a whole bunch of other countries. I use it daily to talk to friends and business colleagues in Europe, and ICQ is the only service they use (although more technologically-oriented use Skype)
Re:AOL sell ICQ to DST (Russia)
by raquo on Wednesday April 28, 2010 @01:59PM
(#1302187)
Investors are not benevolent technology incubators. They need returns on their money, and the quality of the software side of ICQ is largerly irrelevant here.
I wonder if this will increase or decrease the amount of Russian spam I receive through the service. I know some who get bombarded daily.
It's impressive how quickly a company can lose such an impressive market share.
At one point I recall them moving ICQ To the Oscar (early AIM) protocol but it was dying by then, replaced with the other 800000 IM systems available.
Then again, I almost never talk to someone over ICQ so I could just shut it down, but then again I'm running Miranda so one more protocol doesn't bother me much.
Are you use you're not talking about geeks having an unstoppable tendency in Russia to switch to Jabber? Isn't the second most popular IM Mail.ru Agent, which is also owned by DST?
* normal means not IT people
(admittedly, quitting Skype is noticeably harder).
It's amazing how little things have changed on the instant messenger side since I started using AIM.
I will forever associate ICQ with that silly Uh Oh! sound when you received a message.
AOL should be very happy (and surprised) to get rid of that old crap.
PHP is the best example. =)