ICQ will stop working on June 26. It’s encouraging users to migrate to a messaging app from Russia-based VK, its parent company.

I stopped using ICQ in the very early 00s. I didn’t know anything of it still remained.

  • Chozo@fedia.io
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    5 months ago

    I had no idea ICQ was even still operational. Good on them for making it as long as they did.

    I was never an ICQ user, but it’s always sad seeing such long-standing icons of the internet shut down.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      it’s always sad seeing such long-standing icons of the internet shut down.

      A reminder of how much fun Web 1.0 was, not the walled-gardened, enshittified, corporatized, ad-riddled rage baiter it is now.

      • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I always said way back in the early 2000s that once corporations figured out the internet, it and society in general would be very screwed. Their early attempts at trying to make things go viral and create engagement were laughably bad. Then they hired a bunch of psychologists and sociologists, bought up everything, and the rest is history.

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          That’s the same with one armed conflict that bothers me much. In the 90s there it was called “blood vs oil” by one charismatic man (who also correctly predicted how it’d go further, though), and, well, then “blood” won, and “oil” looked miserable - evil, dishonorable and defeated, all at the same time. But in 10 years they figured it out completely, in 20 years applied that power in every area they needed (mostly not military), in 25 had a big military victory, and now the situation really sucks from the looks of it.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Man, I am so sad now.

        I miss the original internet. Back when it was a place for nerds and geeks, before commercial exploitation and SEO and Adpocalypse

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        The early version of what’s now Microsoft’s game suite in Windows was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the Internet. It was a virtual gaming village where you could go sit at tables and play chess or checkers or cards with people from around the world. It worked 100% fine on 14.4k dialup.

        Microsoft bought whatever that was and completely ruined it, just like they ruin everything else they buy.

        • Murdoc@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          That just reminded me of something I tried that was similar, I think it was called Visual Chat? It looked like a 2D cartoon, but each person controlled an avatar and could move around and talk to each other, go to other rooms, change expression, gesture, etc.

          Microsoft bought whatever that was and completely ruined it, just like they ruin everything else they buy.

          It’s like the Midas touch: they make it shiny, expensive, and of little use.

          • bus_factor@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            You probably mean Comic Chat. It was actually just an IRC client, and I think it’s still usable (but frustratingly ineffective) today. But there is a website where you can convert IRC logs to it, I think.

    • db2@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Good on them for making it as long as they did.

      They didn’t though, it was sold to a Russian company many years ago.