ICQ's success also captivated potential suitors, prompting AOL to ink a check to the tune of $287 million for the entirety of Mirabilis' assets in 1998. Mirabilis enjoyed first-mover advantage, attracting millions of early Internet users enticed by the proposition of chatting with friends and family in real-time. This number (I somehow still remember mine by heart some 20 years later), along with custom handles and an attached email address, were used to search for other users on the platform. Users were issued a unique User Identification Number, or UIN, upon registration. ICQ offered a number of innovative features including multi-user chat, async offline messaging, resumable file transfers and a searchable directory.
Incredibly enough, ICQ has also outlasted its chief competitors: AIM shut down at the end of 2017, Yahoo's communications program bit the bullet in mid-2018 and Microsoft laid its Messenger client to rest in 2014. Launched after less than two months of development from Israeli company Mirabilis, it predated and influenced many of the popular chat programs of the era including AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger. Microsoft's trailblazing Windows 95 was barely a year old, Nintendo had just introduced the N64, and those with a reason to have a cell phone actually used it to talk on. Other new features include improved e-mail integration and user interface, enhanced integration with Windows XP, automatic firewall detection, and the new Search Google window which allows you instant access to Google searches through the ICQ interface.ICQ, short for the phrase "I Seek You," laid the groundwork for standalone instant messaging clients when it arrived in November 1996. With the latest version of ICQ, you can move instantly from the Pro to Lite versions just by clicking "Switch to ICQ lite" from the Main menu, and the shared ICQ preferences and password make it easy to move between Lite and Pro versions without losing your settings. In addition, users can also utilize SMS technology, send wireless-pager messages, view up-to-date information on ICQ channels, and integrate ICQ with Outlook. Users can initiate and participate in PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone calls. ICQ Pro 2003b includes ICQphone, a feature that incorporates IP telephony functions into the ICQ program. Once your contact list is set up, you'll be notified when your friends are online so you can chat send instant messages, files, and URLs play games or just hang out. To seek out a friend on the ICQ network, simply enter his or her ICQ number, name, nickname, or e-mail address. ICQ Pro 2003b is the latest release of ICQ, the instant-messaging program that lets you communicate with friends and colleagues in real time.
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