Russian version of icq for computer. Analogues of the official ICQ

It must be agreed that official client Even today, not everyone would consider ICQ ideal. Always want something more or different - alternative interface, more features, deeper settings and so on. Fortunately, there are enough analogues, and they can be a good replacement for the original ICQ client.

It should be noted right away that the phrase "analogue of ICQ" can be understood in two ways.

  • Firstly, these are programs that work with the ICQ protocol. That is, the user can register here using his account of this communication system and correspond. This article will talk specifically about this type.
  • Secondly, it may be alternative messengers, which are similar to ICQ in terms of use.

As already mentioned, ICQ is not only a messenger, but also the protocol that it uses. The name of this protocol is OSCAR. This functional system exchange quick messages, which can include both text and various media files, and more. Therefore, other programs can work with it.

It should be understood that although today there is a growing fashion for using instant messengers instead of social networks for communication, ICQ is still far from regaining its former popularity. So the main part of analogues classical program messaging is almost the same age as the original, except that some of them were somehow improved and have survived to this day in at least some current form.

QIP

QIP is one of the most popular analogues of ICQ. The first version (QIP 2005) was released in 2005, and the last update of the program occurred in 2014.

Also certain time there was a branch - QIP Imfium, but it was eventually crossed with QIP 2012, which at the moment remained the only version. The messenger is considered working, but updates are clearly not being developed. The application is multifunctional and supports many different protocols - from ICQ to VKontakte, Twitter and so on.

Among the advantages are a wide variety of settings and flexibility in individualization, simplicity of the interface and low load on the system. Among the disadvantages is the desire to build in your own search engine in all browsers on computers by default, forcing you to register an @qip.ru account and closed code, which gives little scope for creating custom upgrades.

Miranda

Miranda IM is one of the simplest, yet flexible messengers. The program has a support system for a wide list of plugins that can significantly expand functionality, customize the interface and much more.

Miranda is a client for working with a wide range of protocols for instant exchange messages, including ICQ. It is worth saying that the program was originally called Miranda ICQ, and worked only with OSCAR. On current moment There are two versions of this messenger - Miranda IM and Miranda NG.

  • Miranda IM is historically the first, released in 2000 and continues to develop to this day. True, everything modern updates are little aimed at large-scale improvement of the process, and most often are bugfixes. Often, developers release patches that generally correct one minor aspect of the technical part.
  • Miranda NG is being developed by developers who split from main team due to disagreements in the further course of development of the program. Their goal is to create a more flexible, open and functional messenger. Currently, many users recognize it as a more advanced version of the original Miranda IM, and today the original messenger cannot surpass its descendant in any way.

Pidgin is a fairly ancient messenger, the first version of which was released back in 1999. However, the program continues to actively develop and today supports many modern functions. The most known fact The thing about Pidgin is that the program changed its name several times before settling on this one.

The most important feature of the project is working with a wide range of protocols for communication. This includes both quite ancient ICQ, Jingle and others, as well as quite modern ones - Telegram, VKontakte, .

The program is very well optimized for a variety of operating systems, has many deep settings.

R&Q

R&Q is the successor to &RQ, as can be understood from the transformed name. This messenger has not been updated since 2015, is significantly outdated compared to other analogues.

But that doesn't change main feature client - this program was originally created exclusively portable and can be used directly from external media– for example, from a flash drive. The program does not require any installation; it is distributed immediately in the archive without the need for installation.

Also, among the main advantages, users always noted powerful system anti-spam protection with the ability fine tuning, saving contacts on the server and device separately, and much more. Although the messenger is a little old, it is still functional, convenient, and most importantly, suitable for people who travel a lot.

The work of a domestic programmer, based on the &RQ client, and also in many ways reminiscent of QIP. Now the program as such is dead, since its author stopped working with the project in 2012, preferring to develop a new messenger that will be more inclined towards QIP and will support a wide range of modern messaging protocols.

IMadering is open source free program. So you can find it online original client, and an infinite number of custom versions with various changes interface, functionality and technical parts.

As for the original, it is still considered by many users to be one of the fairly successful analogues for working with the same ICQ.

Additionally

Additionally, it is worth mentioning other options for using the ICQ protocol, except on a computer in the form special program. It is worth mentioning in advance that such areas are little developed and many programs currently do not work or do not work correctly.

ICQ in social networks

Various social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and a number of foreign ones) have the ability to use the ICQ client built into the site system. As a rule, it is located in the applications or games section. Here you will also need login data, a contact list, emoticons and other functions will be available.

The problem is that some of them stopped being serviced a long time ago and now either do not work at all or work intermittently.

The function is of dubious usefulness, since you will have to keep the application in separate tab browser to conduct correspondence and social network, and in ICQ. Although this option is very useful for people who travel a lot.

ICQ / ICQ– program or network client for exchange instant messages on the Internet. ICQ can rightfully be called the progenitor of all modern instant messengers, without which we cannot imagine modern society. Using the unique OSCAR data transfer protocol, ICQ created a real sensation, people were able to exchange text messages with clients registered in the system, make new acquaintances, hold conferences, send free SMS and much more.

20 years have passed since Aska’s “birthday” (as users affectionately nicknamed this service), and it still holds a leading position among dozens of competitors, and guarantees the most stable operation, which attracts more and more new users. Over all these years, developers ICQ Russian version improved their product in order to get a progressive messenger in 2019, capable of sending not only text messages, but also make calls via Internet telephony between all active clients.

If you are interested ICQ in Russian and want to evaluate all the developers’ proposals, you need to perform a simple algorithm of actions. The first thing is to download and install the program on your computer. Second, register by creating your own account. To do this, just come up with a nickname, add email, invent strong password. After this, you will receive an individual code that you can exchange with friends and continue communicating with them in ICQ, latest version.

Main features of ICQ for Windows 7, 8, 10:

There is also a version ICQ for Android which you can download below. In ICQ for your computer you can choose the status that suits you. Starting from standard ones, such as “Online” or “Busy”, or come up with your own, unique one. But when communicating on ICQ, do not forget that all your correspondence is the property of AOL Inc, which the company can view and dispose of at its discretion. Therefore, you should not throw away valuable information through ICQ. Latest version You can download ICQ for free in Russian via a direct link from the official website without registering on our website.

ICQ, aka ICQ, was once a mega-popular messenger in Russia. However, with the advent of social networks, ICQ gradually went into the shadows, although you can still download ICQ for your computer. Moreover, new versions of this “communication chat” are regularly released. But ICQ is already far from the popularity of past years.

What is ICQ for?

For communication. Now this is just one of the many messengers that allows you to:

  • exchange text messages;
  • exchange files, and quite large ones;
  • make calls and send SMS to mobile phones;
  • send email...

Secondly, although personal data about the user is stored on the central server of the program, the correspondence itself is saved only on local media. Therefore, when logging into your account from another device, the user will not see the previous correspondence there.

However, thirdly, a list of contacts is stored on the server. And this is very useful: you don’t have to add old friends after, for example, the messenger has been reinstalled.

An interesting feature of ICQ is protection against spam bots. And you don’t often see something like this in social networks today. The bottom line is that in order to add a user to “friends”, you need to answer some question. The program offers several options to choose from standard questions and a list of possible answers to them. However, you can choose your own. We can say that this is an analogue of a captcha for a messenger. But currently, developers are waging a real war against spam bots and their own tools.

New features

As already mentioned, new versions of ICQ are released regularly. What have the developers prepared in the new version for those who decide to download? ICQ on computer:

  • free video calls. Naturally, provided that the device has a camera and the ICQ messenger is installed on both devices;
  • calls to mobile phones anywhere in the world. True, not free. More details about the tariffs can be found on the ICQ website;
  • with the growing popularity of social networks, developers have introduced the ability to log into your account from a social network account;
  • There are really new and bright design themes that will help you both express your individuality and your mood at the moment;
  • it became possible to maintain your own microblog on ICQ.

Download ICQ to your computer

In a word, despite everything, ICQ continues to live and thrive. Millions active users all over the world this is proof. And isn’t this a reason to download ICQ on your PC?

On November 15, 1996, the company Mirabilis was founded in Israel, which developed the ICQ messenger. Over 20 years the service has gone through big changes, changed owners several times, lost its audience, but in recent years received a chance for a “rebirth.”

A browser has examined the site a short history ICQ - about its creation in 1995, Microsoft's unsuccessful attempts to acquire the company, the purchase of Alisher Usmanov by the foundation in 2010, and the latest innovations. Russian experts explained why the service failed at the turn of the decade and whether it has any chance of becoming popular again.

Founding of the company and deal with AOL

In 1995, when the dot-com bubble was 5 years away, four Israeli high school students Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser, Yair Goldfinger and Amnon Amir created a simple “Internet pager” to communicate with each other. According to their idea, the program should be undemanding of computer resources.

Father of ICQ co-founder Arik Vardi and first investor - Yossi Vardi

At first, the program did not have a name, until someone suggested calling it the first letters of the phrase “I seek you.” Having slightly refined this idea, the co-founders decided to call their development ICQ.

In November 1996, Mirabilis was founded and announced that ICQ would be free to download. In the same year, the service gained its first million users. The first version of the program was very simple and only supported text messages. Users connected to UDP port 4000 servers icq.mirabilis.com

In December 1997, ICQ clients were released for Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, Windows NT and Macintosh. By that time, the service was already used by more than 5 million people, the daily audience was 1.3 million people, and at the same time there were more than 300 thousand users on the network.

In 1998, 1 million new users connected to ICQ every three weeks - developers had to work hard to keep the servers from crashing under load and change the protocol.

In the second half of the 1990s, AOL Corporation became interested in expanding the audience of its messenger, which was built into the browser Netscape Navigator. The program was used by 10 million people, but not all of them were active, because every registered AOL user automatically became an AIM messenger user.

In 1997-1998, AOL began to closely monitor the product of the young Israeli company Mirabilis. By that time, ICQ was on the rise - it was recruiting new users, opening a special server for corporate clients, ranked #1 in downloads on Download.com.

Crisis

Due to increased competition in the market, the position of the service worsened. In the late 2000s, AOL struggled to retain users. In July 2008, the company changed the server configuration, which for some time did not allow third-party programs to work with the ICQ protocol.

In December of the same year they were produced latest changes on the server who did using ICQ not possible on third party platforms. On December 29, the ICQ press service distributed a message in which it called the use third party programs"dangerous". Since January 21, 2009, ICQ servers began to block all unofficial clients in the CIS.

Despite AOL's attempts to maintain its position, ICQ continued to lose users. In 2010, the service was purchased by the foundation of Alisher Usmanov and Yuri Milner Digital SkyTechnologies for $187 million. This is 54% less than AOL paid for ICQ in 1998. In September 2010, the service became part of Mail.ru Group. According to the holding, the monthly audience of ICQ from December 2009 to December 2010 decreased by 35% - to 33.5 million people.

Development within Mail.Ru Group

Initially, Mail.ru Group planned to merge the messengers “Mail.Ru Agent” and ICQ - sources reported this to the Vedomosti newspaper.

After the purchase of DST, the service continued to lose audience. In September 2012, Mail.Ru Group released a report according to which from June 2011 to June 2012 the service lost a third of users - their number fell from 30.8 million to 20.5 million people. In 2014, the popularity of the service - in 2013 it lost 30% of its audience, the number of users fell to 11 million, of which 6.7 million were from Russia.

This is how the ICQ desktop client changed from 1996 to 2015:













Big changes began in ICQ in 2014 - then it was released new version protocol and updated programs with new user interface for desktop and mobile platforms. In 2015, it became known that Mail.Ru Group was developing ICQ instead of “Mail.Ru Agent”.