With more than 28 million users, ICQ has clearly taken the Internet by storm. ICQ was recently acquired by America Online: In ICQ 99a (now a free beta download), AOL has managed to preserve the original ICQ look and feel while adding a slew of new features.

(Click to view screen shot.)

New goodies include the ability to send greeting cards to other ICQ users, create home pages, send voice messages, forward ICQ messages via e-mail, search the Web, use sticky notes, and more. The number of useful features now available from ICQ goes far beyond instant messaging.

ICQ now has a built-in Web search feature, which lets you search the Web right from the ICQ client. In essence, ICQ has become a desktop portal, eliminating the need for a user to visit a separate search engine. ICQ's search feature is powered by Inktomi Corp., the same company that provides search technology to Yahoo! and other major portals.

(Click to view screen shot.)

If you wish to use a different search engine than ICQ's, you'll find built-in links to 17 search engines. We just typed in the word for which we wanted to search and then clicked on our search engine of choice. ICQ automatically opened our browser and displayed the results.

ICQ also has built-in links to news, weather, software, Usenet archives, general reference, and finance information. Between these links and the new search functionality, finding information was extremely easy to do, without having to open a browser window; ICQ did all the work.

But ICQ hasn't lost touch with its core functionality and purpose--instant messaging and chat. New features include the ability to change text color and font size in messages, making it easy to customize how messages appear. You can also now use Emotions and Actions (expressive words, graphics, and sounds) as you chat, and you can save your chat session for playback at a later time.

ICQ has also added or bulked up features that have generally had their roots in more traditional contact managers. You'll find a to-do list, sound schemes, voice messaging, and enhanced e-mail functionality. And users can now leave themselves notes on their own computer screens. This is a handy addition for those of us who have buried our monitors under yellow sticky notes.

Although ICQ is clearly still the leader, it's got some serious competition coming up from behind. Yahoo! has begun beefing up its own chat pager by adding search capabilities and tight integration with its portal, including news stories, sports, and a calendar. If ICQ is going to remain the leader, AOL will have to keep a blistering pace in adding features.

— Jim Lynch