
Sources of ICQ desktop client by mail.ru - hexx86
https://github.com/mailru/icq-desktop
======
mikey_p
Say what you will about ICQ, but I can still log in with my number and
password from the late 90s and see the names of the people I chatted with in
high school in my contacts list. This is nothing short of somewhat amazing in
the world of software startups and shutterings, etc.

FWIW, I've also realized that my Yahoo account from circa 1996 works just as
well. my.yahoo.com even remembers what news topics, stocks, weather locations,
etc I setup nearly 20 years ago.

~~~
romaniv
This.

I miss ICQ. Well, I still use it occasionally, since it's part of my MirandaIM
setup. But I miss it whenever I use Skype for IMs. For starters, I can
aggregate ICQ, Jabber and a bunch of other services inside one lightweight
open-source client. Also, it had an entirely different social vibe, which is
missing from Skype. It was okay to chat with near-strangers in ICQ. It was
okay to add people from some random forum to your contact list. It was okay to
say "hi" to people when they went online (as opposed to always-online on 10
different devices Skype mentality).

~~~
donatj
YES. I haven't chatted with a stranger in AGES, but a handful of my closest
friends online to this day I met by IMing random people on ICQ / AIM.

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dchest
With private key for Sparkle updates signing: [https://github.com/mailru/icq-
desktop/blob/master/mac/ICQ/ds...](https://github.com/mailru/icq-
desktop/blob/master/mac/ICQ/dsa_priv.pem)

Facepalm.

~~~
marvel_boy
Newbie here. Could you elaborate?

~~~
txdv
Sparkle is an open source update framework for osx.

I guess the private key is for signing the updates, so the user knows that the
update is legit.

~~~
dchest
Correct. Sparkle is an open source updater framework used by many Mac
applications for built-in updates. When a vendor publishes an update, it signs
it with a private key (which should be kept secret). When the app downloads
the update, it verifies the signature using the public key distributed with
the app, and proceeds with update if the signature is correct. Publishing
private key breaks this trust: anyone can now sign updates, pretending to be
the vendor of ICQ.

Edit: I just checked and their updater endpoint is served over unencrypted
HTTP connection. If you use ICQ and update it, anyone who can MiTM your
connection can install software on your Mac. PR:
[https://github.com/mailru/icq-desktop/pull/3](https://github.com/mailru/icq-
desktop/pull/3)

For ICQ for Mac users the best way to protect against this is to use Mac App
Store version.

------
captainmuon
Is this a leak or a release?

Anyway, it seems like 5-10 years too late. I remember when I was in school
(till 2003) that ICQ was huge. People knew their ICQ numbers by heart, and it
was as important as e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook is today. It even anticipated
microblogging - you could set a custom "status message", and people would
check each others messages to see what others were doing. They had a lot of
features that were not to different from what Facebook has today - you had
Flash based minigames, a personal homepage-like area etc.. And of course they
had a huge network advantage. I really wonder how they dropped the ball...

~~~
giarc
I can still remember the "uh-oh" sound. I remember searching for and download
sound boards to replace the sounds. They also had that chat window where you
could actually the user typing. Nostalgia eh.

~~~
jasonkostempski
I fell asleep with ICQ running and my speakers turned way up once. 3 AM and
someone decided to send me a message. That was like 15 years ago, I still
freeze up a little when I hear it.

~~~
taneq
I had something similar just after I moved out of home for the first time. ICQ
running, speakers still on from the music I'd been playing before, late at
night. Someone logged on. Huge loud KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK sound. Just about gave
myself a coronary!

~~~
sevensor
In my late-90s undergrad dorm, this happened _all the time._ Somebody down the
hall would have the system cranked, hooked up to the computer. 3am, he gets an
ICQ message. A thundrous UH-OH wakes half the hall.

------
dedosk
There is more

// TODO : change it after testing const static std::string flurry_key =
"KYVQVW38PB2SP8CRJJ9R"; // test ICQ const static std::string flurry_url =
"[https://data.flurry.com/aah.do";](https://data.flurry.com/aah.do";)

Source: [https://github.com/mailru/icq-
desktop/blob/master/core/stati...](https://github.com/mailru/icq-
desktop/blob/master/core/statistics.h)

------
huhtenberg
A thing to keep in mind that ICQ used to be insanely huge in Russia and
neighboring countries. Back in late 90s people would know their own ICQ ID by
heart (which are numerical) and exchange them instead of phone numbers. You
also could buy vanity 4-5 digit ICQ numbers for anywhere between few hundred
dollars to few thousands. Don't know if things changed now, they probably
have.

~~~
baddestpoet
Wow, this led me to discover that I also still know my ID. Before Facebook's
rise in Europe around '04-'05 or so ICQ was the online communication channel
of choice pretty much everywhere around here, not only in the Eastern part of
the continent.

~~~
zeeZ
Took me a while, but I managed to remember it. Along with the (unique)
password. It shows 143 contacts, of which 1 is actually online. From skimming
through the names I have no idea who more than half of those people are, the
rest are family and local friends who I still have contact with.

Contact spreadsheets for teens in Germany back then contained name, address,
phone number, email address and ICQ number. We didn't even have a MySpace back
then ;)

------
michaeldwan
They just took the repo down.

~~~
pmlnr
Fork: [https://github.com/fungosforks/icq-
desktop](https://github.com/fungosforks/icq-desktop)

~~~
0x0
That's a dodgy looking commit, wonder what else is lurking.
[https://github.com/fungosforks/icq-
desktop/commit/eced2373c6...](https://github.com/fungosforks/icq-
desktop/commit/eced2373c6f4db4be27a064c6ebd33ccb19b5332)

~~~
justinclift
Hmmm, spammer_copy.py, with "def send_spam()" defined in there. Something's
not right.

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x3ro
It has been taken down. Does anyone have a cloned copy and can make it
available?

------
stevewillows
I had their support reset my password to a different email account by listing
three generic names that I thought might be in my contacts list. It was great
for me, but not a secure or reliable process.

~~~
sergioocon
I don't even remember what people I had in my contact lists.... I haven't
talked in years to some I do remember

Time to open a new account?

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throwaway_xx9
I had a meeting with the ICQ founders and senior engineers in 2000.

At the time, they were using 9 T1's, which even then seemed pretty small as
far as bandwidth goes.

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jjfine
Taken down.

------
nyddle
I've just installed an official ICQ client on my phone and it seems to be in
sync with the latest messaging trends, but I'm the only person online...

------
Joyfield
Still remember my number, 817598.

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hippich
and it is gone

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lcfcjs
Subseven always worked well with ICQ :D

