I was always more of an MSN Messenger guy. But the Open OSCAR Server project is a fantastic labor of love stewarded by a kind soul.
They put up with (if not were outright amused at) me digging up the weirdest 3rd party clients I could [1] and just kicking them around against the server software to find bugs [2]
Oh how I wish modern chat platforms would let me use a client of my own choosing. It's all so locked down and usually garbage-tier because the user has no choice.
Now that's not fair. Matrix gives you plenty of options to be flooded with CSAM or have all your chats become inexplicably unable to ever be decrypted again
I remember when I discovered a remote ICQ buffer overflow in high school. I didn't have the skills to gain code execution at the time, but I created an app that could DoS and crash the client of anyone, if I knew their username.
As TinCan phones are getting popular in my kid’s friend circle, I am getting second hand pride at her low number like I had (have?) for my ICQ number
> Originally developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis in 1996, the client was bought by AOL in 1998, and then by Mail.Ru Group (now VK) in 2010.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICQ
My ICQ UIN was one of the few online accounts that I completely lost control of. Some "Russian hacker" took it over, by guessing the password, credential stuffing, or some other method, and I noticed that my profile had been usurped into a Cyrillic one. And that was long, long before 2010.
It was acquired by AOL in 1998, went through several rounds of enshittification and protocol changes to defeat third party clients which did not show ads, and finally landed in Mail.Ru group in 2010. In about 2-3 years no one cared about ICQ anymore. Then, it slowly died.
I registered my account in 1998 (got a 7-digit number starting with 9) and the whole thing felt like a miracle back then. My first employer in 2003 used ICQ as a corporate messenger similar to how we now use Slack. Since I mostly used Linux back then, I was very happy to find centericq, then centerim, then finch. One of my first contributions to an open source project was a small patch to centericq, something about contacts panel resize if I remember correctly.
I believe the last time I actually launched any ICQ client was around 2012, and never since then.
I was always more of an MSN Messenger guy. But the Open OSCAR Server project is a fantastic labor of love stewarded by a kind soul.
They put up with (if not were outright amused at) me digging up the weirdest 3rd party clients I could [1] and just kicking them around against the server software to find bugs [2]
[1] https://wiki.cursedsilicon.net/wiki/AIM_Clients
[2] https://github.com/mk6i/open-oscar-server/issues/120
[2] https://github.com/mk6i/open-oscar-server/issues/122
[2] https://github.com/mk6i/open-oscar-server/issues/123
The hacked MSN client from mess.be was amazing. You could spam the "nudge" that made your friend's client take focus and shake and make a noise!
Oh how I wish modern chat platforms would let me use a client of my own choosing. It's all so locked down and usually garbage-tier because the user has no choice.
Matrix has lots of choice. Garbage choice. :/
Now that's not fair. Matrix gives you plenty of options to be flooded with CSAM or have all your chats become inexplicably unable to ever be decrypted again
The future is now!
I remember when I discovered a remote ICQ buffer overflow in high school. I didn't have the skills to gain code execution at the time, but I created an app that could DoS and crash the client of anyone, if I knew their username.
Hey all, If you're looking for a public server to jump into to start chatting on aim again, please check out https://logon.chat/
It is fully backed by OOS
:)
ICQ was my first messaging experience. Good old times!
Neat. At some early startups, we used AIM similar to how Slack is used today.
If you want to use Pidgin with it, check out https://github.com/pidgin/retro-prpl
ICQ? Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time... a long time.
FWIW, ICQ was being discussed here less than a month ago.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49224443
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49167258
OK, OK... to be fair "discussed" is an over statement. Let's say "ICQ was mentioned here less than a month ago. :-)
As TinCan phones are getting popular in my kid’s friend circle, I am getting second hand pride at her low number like I had (have?) for my ICQ number
ICQ and LiveJournal were the two greatest Russian psyops of the 1990s.
UIN: 279866
I think ICQ was from Israel.
> Originally developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis in 1996, the client was bought by AOL in 1998, and then by Mail.Ru Group (now VK) in 2010.[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICQ
Okay, Mossad then
My ICQ UIN was one of the few online accounts that I completely lost control of. Some "Russian hacker" took it over, by guessing the password, credential stuffing, or some other method, and I noticed that my profile had been usurped into a Cyrillic one. And that was long, long before 2010.
Actually, ICQ had no relation to Russia in 1990s.
It was acquired by AOL in 1998, went through several rounds of enshittification and protocol changes to defeat third party clients which did not show ads, and finally landed in Mail.Ru group in 2010. In about 2-3 years no one cared about ICQ anymore. Then, it slowly died.
I registered my account in 1998 (got a 7-digit number starting with 9) and the whole thing felt like a miracle back then. My first employer in 2003 used ICQ as a corporate messenger similar to how we now use Slack. Since I mostly used Linux back then, I was very happy to find centericq, then centerim, then finch. One of my first contributions to an open source project was a small patch to centericq, something about contacts panel resize if I remember correctly.
I believe the last time I actually launched any ICQ client was around 2012, and never since then.