ICQ Messenger Shuts Down After 25 Years of A/S/L?

ICQ Messenger Shuts Down After 25 Years of ASL

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
OK, great, you know what, you know what? You know what's

(00:02):
reminding me of now? It's remindingme of sl I read a sad article
today, and that sad article isthat sadly icq is now shutting down.

(00:27):
So sad, so sad my friends. VK, the Russian company that owns
icq, posted a message on Fridaythat simply reads icq will stop working from
June twenty sixth sadness, guys,sadness icq. You guys remember icq back
in the nineties, Some of youguys weren't even alive. Maybe icq was

(00:50):
all the rage during the late ninetiesand early two thousands. The app became
so popular that it hit the onehundred a million user mark in just two
thousand and one, just four yearsafter its launch, which in the rise
of the internets from nineteen ninety sixand tim berners Lee up to the dot
com boom of the ninety nine twothousand. I mean, that was a

(01:12):
really like a million users, bigdeal. I remember jumping on icq.
I think it was nineteen ninety six, nineteen ninety seven, maybe no,
probably nineteen ninety seven. I wasliving in Japan. I remember I was
in the computer lab And I rememberwho was it that introduced it to me?

(01:36):
I think it was Donnie anyway.ICQ, short for I Seek You,
was launched in November of nineteen ninetysix by four Israeli developers from Mirabilis.
It quickly became one of the firststandalone instant messaging clients, enabling real
time chat between users and reaching millionsof users within just a few years.

(01:59):
In June nineteen ninety eight, AOLacquired ICQ for four hundred and seven million,
integrating it into its suite of Internetservices and expanding its user based significantly
by and also at the same timedestroying it. By two thousand and one,
ICQ had over one hundred million registeredusers. The platform introduced features like
contact lists, status messages, filetransfer, and early voice and video chat,

(02:23):
along with unique ICQ numbers for useridentification. And man makes me think
right now, like what was myICQ handle? Oh, I don't remember,
I don't remember, Ah dad,Gom, do you guys have did
you do ICQ back in the day? What was it? Man? Just

(02:46):
there's this flood of nostalgia that's comingto me about this, this sad news
article that I read. This isthe genesis of social network. This is
the genesis of social connection. Thisis the genist of instant messaging. Like,
we don't actually talk about that anymore, you know, because it's just

(03:06):
a text right. Despite its earlysuccess, ICQ did's face stiff competition from
other instant messaging services like AOL InstantMessenger, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger
in the late nineteen nineties and earlytwo thousands. By the mid two thousands,
newer platforms such as Skype, FacebookMessenger, and WhatsApp began to dominate

(03:29):
the market, leading to a declinein icq's popularity. In April twenty ten,
icq was acquired by mail Ru Groupfor one hundred and eighty seven point
five million, which we branded itto Icqnew and focused on modernizing the platform
for mobile use, incorporating features likestickers, chatbots, video calls, and
instant and encrypted messaging. Today,icq remains operational until the next month or

(03:55):
so, with a relatively loyal userbase that's about to diminish significantly, particularly
in Russia and Eastern Europe. Itoffers mobile and desktop apps, AI integration,
cross platform sync and group chat functionalities. Icq's pioneering role in instant messaging
has left a lasting impact on digitalcommunication, with many features it popularized becoming

(04:18):
standard in modern messaging apps. Despiteits decline from peak popularity, ICQ holds
a nostalgic value for early early Internetusers and continues to be a functional and
modern communication tool until June twenty six. So this is some sad news.

(04:38):
Guys. You know, we havea lot of new startups coming out all
the time. Have you ever spendany time on Kickstarter or any spend any
time on Indiegogo, or spend anytime within the venture of the startup networks
and news. There are always amazingideas coming out all the time, but
rarely do we have startups that gounder that actually made a significant impact.

(05:03):
And we're part and parcel of theInternet age, or maybe even the genesis
of the Internet age. And sowe say farewell to ICQ. What a
great you know what? You knowwhat you know? What's reminding me of?
Now? It's reminding me of ASL. Could you believe it? Guys?

(05:27):
Back in the nineties, we usedto throw around to each other ASL
For those of you guys young bloodsage sex length, you know, location
or language sometimes, but I meanwe would live like no one thought about
privacy, no one thought about docs, and nobody thought about anything. I
mean you which I mean? Moveforward a decade and we're entering into twenty

(05:49):
and eleven. Twenty twelve, Iwas buying bitcoin through PayPal and the dark
web, but still like bitcoin wasworth nothing. At the time, you
could literally trust a person to say, look, I'm gonna send you a
couple hundred bones here, you bettersend me to bitcoins. I mean,

(06:09):
these were different times, my friends. These were innocent times. Dare I
say nineties and especially the mid nineties, there were better times. If you
have any memories of ICQ and theearly instant messaging apps of your tell us
a story in the comments. Whatdo you remember about the old asl icq?

(06:33):
Man? Now I want now I'mthinking about terminal and BBS. You
guys remember that. Oh,