For simplicity, I am describing the steps for. In any other case, you must decide about a server. Google has instructions for some clients on their web page. This means that people can contact you using your e-mail address. If you happen to have a Google Mail account, you can use Google Talk. Instead, you will get a nice address of the form (this also leads to less SPAM in your messenger). Good news first: You will not have to memorize a wimpy UIN. That may be true, but for me, this passage reeks of intolerable business practices. Most people will probably respond to that along the lines of “My conversations are not that relevant”. Basically, AOL owns the right to use your messages for all purposes (see the Wikipedia article for more details). Do you really want to be a part of that? There is also the “default argument” against ICQ, citing their user policy. Indeed, AOL changed the protocol several times in the past, thereby kicking out users that did not use the original client. You agree not to (1) create or use any software other than the Software provided by ICQ or by America Online, Inc., or any affiliate thereof, to enter your ICQ number and password or to access the ICQ Services, without the express written authorization of ICQ Of course, AOL does not want you to use any other client: Hence, the original client for the ICQ network is Adware. They want to make money-which is OK, I suppose. You should also think about this: ICQ is owned by AOL. It makes life easier, because you can still maintain your ICQ account (I am doing this, for example, because there are some people who simply refuse to use anything but ICQ. If you are not yet using a multiprotocol messenger, you should consider using one. Chances are, you already use a multiprotocol messenger, such as Trillian Pro or Miranda for Windows, Pidgin or Kopete for Linux/Unix, Adium or iChat for MacOS X. Why should I want to use another protocol?īecause you will need it, eventually. Wikipedia to the rescue! My short suggestions: Use Pidgin (Windows, Linux, BSD) or Adium (MacOS X). Let me try to convince you to create a Jabber account. However, game theory shows us that “superior product” does not imply “market dominance”. Jabber/XMPP is clearly superior to ICQ for a many reasons. I do not want to make any boring, technical comparisons between the two protocols. Most of them are still regular users of ICQ, despite of all its shortcomings.

Almost every person I know has an IM account.

How to register icq