ICQ- Does it really work or not?

Question

Level 1

15 points

ICQ- Does it really work or not?

Have seen conflicting info, most dealing with "Messages" beta posting. Has anyone figured out for sure if you can use ICQ with Messages? I will have to go back to Adium if there is no ability to make ICQ run on Messages. I like Adium but it does not support "iMessages" to iOS devices, a feature I use all the time........ This is a new workstation so I have not configured any IM acounts yet; still copying over several TB of data from Drobo backups and have Blu-Ray drives yet to install. In the end though, I would LOVE to be down to only one IM client.

Most posting I have seen so far, simply tell you to change the login server (login.icq.com) as I recall. Some postings (much older) tell you that they made it work but that it sends raw HTML to the end users. Anyone else know anything new? IF it can work with raw HTML, is there an account-setting that can force it out as plain text? Most users of the ICQ client do not see font changes and emoticons anyway.........

I would dump ICQ if I could but my spouse and several friends work for a company which mandates its use (think the latched on to an IM client early then was too painful to move hundreds of employees to another system).

TIA for any advice,

Bill

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Mid-'12, 12-Core, 64MB RAM

Posted on Oct 16, 2012 10:21 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 18, 2012 1:55 PM in response to Wm Gardner

HI,

With earlier version of iChat there was an Add-on called Chax that would sort out the ICQ HTML issue.

However this has never been updated for Lion and has not been touched for sometime.

This means in iChat 6 or the Messages beta you end up sending the HTML that makes the Balloons (or other style up chose) to the ICQ Buddy.

IQ was owned by AOL/AIM and used the same port and same server (port 5190 and login.oscar.aol.com)

It also worked on port 443.

AOL sold ICQ off to some Russians.

I had heard about the Server Change (This was some while after the sale)

9:55 PM Thursday; October 18, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

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Answer 2

Wm Gardner Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 18, 2012 9:13 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ralph,

I run Adium on my other Macs. Think if I put in the same port and login server they show that ICQ might work? If it does, I am not sure how that would help the HTML issue. I figure it might be worth trying though.

Getting late here, will check back before trying this tomorrow......

Thanks for the $.02 (or 2 pence in your case🙂 ) !

Bill

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Answer 3

Oct 19, 2012 11:45 AM in response to Wm Gardner

Hi,

If you have an App that does have a working login to ICQ it would be useful to copy across the port and server info (plus what it might be doing for SSL).

I also came across this

http://www.icq.com/help/view_faq.php?faq_id=4725

I was not aware that it could Video (I thought it was a bit more "geek lovers, text only" sort of thing).

Having said that the article appears to be undated and written in quite good English (the Russians may have bought the support/help pages as well)

I don't think there is a current fix for the Balloon or Style Style (HTML) issue since iChat 5

7:45 PM Friday; October 19, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Reply