Author: Nafcom

ICQ 5 German Spam

There is a message going around in German ICQ 5 clients about “icq is no longer for free”. Of course this is not true and spam! I found a rather good translation of this post and a statement about this from an ICQ user,
here which I would like to quote:

“i get this nice message:

It’s a pity that the ICQ-administration had to start a second chain letter, because the first one wasn’t taken seriously. Send this message to every person in your Contactlist back to me . We feel impelled to this, because there are very much inactive accounts, causing long loadingtimes. As a reward you will get a golden icq-flower. Proofs can be found under icq.com

In my opnion thats just another stupid chain letter with orgin: some stupid teens that wanna laugh up there sleeves, seeing there “friends” spread this crap.

I’m of that opion because:
1. I havn’t found any proof on icq.com
2. This letter (and the letter from da_platinum_deluxe too) has an surpassing error ratio (meaning the german “Grammatik” & “Zeichensetzung” )
3. Even if this would be true, i would just create a new account, so theres no problem for me
4. And even if these inactive accounts were the origin of the long loading time, why it would help to send some messages around???

Hope I could help, hf^^”

There is an interesting site about which always gets my laughing tears! 🙂

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Nafcom vs. Udo

I have reported earlier about the rather new ICQ Help Center.

Well, I have noticed that the article in the knowledge base called “How do I upgrade to a new version of ICQ?” saying this:

“How do I upgrade to a new version of ICQ?
Once you download and install ICQ, notices will appear that new versions are out. Choosing to update eliminates the need for you to search for the latest ICQ version, as you automatically have the most recent version at all times!”

That’s the knowledge base article and it’s wrong

ah, read this for all info about this (i.e. my thread about it in the ICQ Focus Group):
tickle me!

Here is a quote of the thread! Enjoy reading! 🙂

Me: “But why have some people still ICQ 5.03 then?”

Udo: “You will automatically have the most recent version at all times.”

ICQ Support: “Please note that ICQ notifies its users about some of the version updates, patches and builds.”

Me: “Why does ICQ only notice about some version updates, patches and builds and not all? I think the Knowledge Base article sounds confusing here, I furthermore think that the update function should notice about all updates and new builds and not only of some!”

So knowledge base aticle says you automatically have the latest version
I say but many still have ICQ 5.02/ICQ 5.03 when latest version is ICQ 5.04
Udo says I am wrong, the article is correct
and ICQ Support says it notices only about _some_ updates

what a discussion 😀

Ah they replied again

“Hello Joerg Droege,

Your suggestion is taken into consideration.
Unfortunately right now our development program is full for the foreseeable future with high priority items.

Thank You,
Nick Slater,
The ICQ Support Team.”

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Harry Potter and his faces

I have read it a while ago in the newspaper, that Harry Potter archived to be in over 100 translations, fine.
But they also showed a picture of the book covers, I tell you. The British guy suddenly got an Asian face, coloured face, etc.
Like very much faces.
And it boggles my mind, I mean… it’s officially a child’s book, shouldn’t it, especially since it’s a book for childs, keep a British guy just British to show that sense of euality? Nobody is more worth than another, you know.

Today, I have managed to retrieve the homepage, who lets you select all book covers by countries.

Have a look!

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ICQ 5 Sounds & NON-MSIE Browsers

ICQ Team wrote:

ICQ Support: now, to clear things up about the Opera browser:

You must have IE 5.5 or higher installed in order for ICQ to work properly.

it does not have to be your default browser at all, you can use whatever browser that you want.

Udo: This includes ICQ’s website.

We all remember this, as I have written about this issue very well, in this blog entry.
Yesterday, Udo announced the new ICQ Sounds page.

After users began to complain in the Expert Board that the page does not work properly in Firefox, suddenly ICQ fixed it.

Now only missing is a 100% solution for my beloved Opera browser. Because right now, it only works if I set the identity of Opera to Mozilla.

More about the compatibility issues with other browsers regarding the ICQ homepage and client can be found here.

Poor poor non MSIE 5 or up users :'(

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Open Xtraz API for ICQ

First of all, What is an API?
Let’s quote the above linked article:

“API

Abbreviation of application program interface, a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. A good API makes it easier to develop a program by providing all the building blocks. A programmer puts the blocks together.

Most operating environments, such as MS-Windows, provide an API so that programmers can write applications consistent with the operating environment. Although APIs are designed for programmers, they are ultimately good for users because they guarantee that all programs using a common API will have similar interfaces. This makes it easier for users to learn new programs.”

Oh ok, “What is ICQ” is not needed, every reader knows what it is 🙂
And what are Xtraz? (mostly) Web-based features for ICQ, like webcam support, games, ICQ Mail client, a Status Manager, voice chat, etc.

So the thing is that the ICQ Team announced in September 2004 the release of a Public Xtraz API so that every normal ICQ User can create his own features (just like MSN has plugins).
Unfortunately on March, 16th, 2005 they said they have no plans to release it anymore!

This is bad! Since right now, only business partners of ICQ have an API can can code features for ICQ. But I think the ICQ Team should do what they promised and release the public API for everyone!

Incase you would like to fight for this (well, I am lucky for supporters!), there is a thread about it in the ICQ Focus Group.
So please if you want, join it and voice up in the thread, too!

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The Undocumented ICQ Error Number

Ia m using ICQ since quite some time, (January 2001 to be exact), but I have never noticed every before an error number that was nowhere written down and explained.
the ICQ Team even put up a Error Number List so that everybody knows what it means and what not, unfortunately the experienced 01001 is missing.

So let me quote a bit my friend AJ:

“Earlier, I was transferring files between myself (AIM for Mac v4.7) and a friend (ICQ 5.04 build 2321 on WinXP). Everything was perfectly fine until I attempted to send a file and it wouldn’t connect.

My friend’s ICQ reported an error code of 01001. Screen capture of the error is here. When looking up the error code in the ICQ knowledge database, 01001 doesn’t appear to be listed.

The problem, from what I can figure out, was that I had a backslash (“/”) in the filename, which is an illegal character under Windows. When I renamed the file, it transferred perfectly fine, so that seems to have been the issue.

Just mentioning it so that the error code (01001) can be added to the list.

D.”

So far 🙂

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