I used ICQ for the first time around 1997/98 and it was an amazing experience to be chatting with someone on the other side of the planet for free. I had been using BBS’s to connect with people but for obvious reasons they were all local folks. ICQ was the first system that allowed me to connect to the international world for free. I think it was also the first system where I encountered the infamous A/S/L(Age/Sex/Location) question. It was quite popular over on AOL IM as well, but I first encountered it on ICQ. I think it was probably because there was no concept of a profile picture at that time and ICQ used a number instead of a custom screen name for user identification.
Unfortunately the system is going to be shutdown on June 26th with no explanation given on why it is being shutdown. That being said It is impressive that the system managed to stay up and running for so long. I think the last time I logged into ICQ was sometime in the late 2000’s. I wonder if I still remember the password to be able to log in one last time before it is gone for good.
What would be really cool is if VK makes the source code behind the server opensource so that others can setup an alternate ICQ server for folks to use. But I doubt that would happen.
Source: Bleepingcomputer.com: ICQ messenger shuts down after almost 28 years
– Suramya