Every major instant messaging service has a web-based version of it. For Windows Live, their version is webmessenger.msn.com. Yahoo has webmessenger.yahoo.com. AIM has AIM Express.
All of them are terrible.
But then there’s ICQ2Go. It was just deployed recently and said honestly, it rocks. It’s flash-based, has iPhone-like tabs and animations and is really, really good. This interface compared to all others is super-clean, super-efficient and looks and acts like a modern web app should. In fact it’s so good you’d probably use it as your primary messenger.
The only problem is that even though ICQ holds the distinction as the first instant messaging service on the planet, it’s the last choice anyone would use for communicating over IM.
One can only hope that other web messenger services follow ICQs footsteps. Web-based IM really really needs to function (at least in look) like ICQ does.
My ICQ UIN: 103698 (just in case you want to try it out because I’m probably the only person you know using it)
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Drew said:
6/16/2008 1:40 pm
When I first got online, back in 96/97, ICQ was one of the first messaging programs I used (along with Yahoo ‘Pager’ as it was then called. I continued using it for years afterwards, but then around 2002 MSN Messenger started taking off, and everyone began to defect as ICQ had become somewhat bloated with a lot of useless crap by then.
All in all, ICQ will always be my number one preference for IM as it holds fond memories from the early days of the Internet.
I met dozens of people in my area through it and still remember my ICQ number funnily enough.
As you said though - unfortunately, rarely anyone uses it anymore.
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ICQ 2 go fan said:
6/24/2008 3:07 pm
I absolutely agree. I’m a big ICQ 2 go fan myself, I use it everyday and I really love it.
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Jen said:
7/4/2008 2:41 am
i had icq years ago when every one used it, well all my mates did, like Drew said 96/97 era. i miss using powwow, remember that tribal voice program?
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