ICQ will be shut down in a few weeks. Like many users, I haven’t been active on it for a long time, but, when I started using it approximately 25 years ago, it was my first Internet Instant Messenger: the main way to chat, synchronously or asynchronously, with people you met online (or real-life friends). I still remember my UIN (the Unique Identification Number), whereas I can’t recall any of my own landline phone numbers. I can visualise its quirky logo , and when I think of ICQ I can still hear the uh-oh sound effect that announced a new incoming message.
So, thank you, ICQ, for being there so many years ago. You’ll always hold that special place in my heart, that no MSN Messenger will ever have.