Tencent QQ

Tencent QQ
Developer(s) Tencent Holdings Limited
Initial release February 1999 (1999-02)
Stable release
8.9 (Microsoft Windows) / February 8, 2017 (2017-02-08)
Development status Active
Operating system Cross-platform
Available in Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish
Type Instant messaging
License Proprietary
Alexa rank Decrease 10 (Global, February 2017)[1]
Website Official portal
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
International

Tencent QQ, also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service developed by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Limited. QQ also offers services that provide online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, and group and voice chat. The software uses a logo of a small penguin wearing a red scarf.

As of April 2014, over 200 million simultaneous online QQ users were recorded.[2] At the end of June 2016, there were 899 million active QQ accounts.

Stable releases

QQ 8.9[3] February 8, 2017 Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10
QQ Mac (Native/International) 5.4.1[4] January 19, 2017 macOS
QQ International 2.11[5] January 22, 2014 Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
QQ for Android 6.6.9[6] January 17, 2017 Android phones
QQ International for Android 5.1.2[7] December 26, 2016 Android phones
QQ 6.6.9[8] January 20, 2017 iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch)
QQ HD 6.5.0[9] January 26, 2017 iOS (iPad)
QQ Windows Phone 5.3[10] November 2, 2016 WP10

History

Tencent QQ was first released in China in February 1999 under the name of OICQ ("Open ICQ", a reference to the early IM service ICQ).[11][12][13][14]

After the threat of a trademark infringement lawsuit by the AOL-owned ICQ, the product's name was changed to QQ[12][13][14] (with "Q" and "QQ" used to stand for the word "cute").[11][14] The software inherited existing functions from ICQ with additional features such as software skins, people's images, and motions. QQ was first released as a "network paging" real-time communications service. Other mainly free features were later added, such as chatrooms, games, personal avatars (similar to "Meego" in MSN), online storage, and Internet dating services.

The official client runs on Microsoft Windows and a beta public version was launched for Mac OS X version 10.4.9 or newer.[15] Formerly, two web versions, WebQQ (full version) and WebQQ Mini (Lite version), which made use of Ajax, were available.[16][17] Development, support, and availability of WebQQ Mini, however, have since been discontinued. On 31 July 2008, Tencent released an official client for Linux,[18] but this has not since been kept in step with the Windows version and it is not capable of voice chat.

In response to competition with Windows Live Messenger, Tencent released Tencent Messenger, which is for business people. It also provides, in limited form, features that are only available to premium members in normal QQ. A beta version of QQ is currently available for Symbian S60 3rd Edition.[19]

Tencent QQ holds the Guinness World Record for the highest number of simultaneous online users on an instant messaging program with 210,212,085 users online on July 3, 2014.[20]

Tencent's QQ Group also manages numerous other software applications, such as the Qzone social network, QQ Mail, QQ Music, QQ Pinyin input method, QQ Computer Management, QQ Browser, QQ Dictionary, and Tencent Video.[21]

Membership

In 2002, Tencent stopped its free membership registration, requiring all new members to pay a fee. In 2003, however, this decision was reversed due to pressure from other instant messaging services such as Windows Live Messenger and Sina UC. Tencent currently offers a premium membership scheme, which offers features such as QQ mobile, ringtone downloads, and SMS sending/receiving. In addition, Tencent offers "Diamond" level memberships. Currently, there are seven diamond schemes available:

Q Coin

The Q Coin is a virtual money used by QQ users to "purchase" QQ related items for their avatar and blog. Q Coins are obtained either by purchase (one coin for one RMB) or by using the mobile phone service. Due to the popularity of QQ among young Chinese, Q Coins are gradually becoming accepted by online vendors in exchange for "real" merchandise such as small gifts. This has raised concerns of replacing (and thus "inflating") real currency in these transactions. The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, says it is investigating the possibility of cracking down on Q Coin due to people using Q Coins in exchange for real world goods.[23] Tencent claims the Q Coin was merely a regular commodity, and is, therefore, not a currency.[24]

Modifications

Coral QQ, a modification of Tencent QQ, is another add-on. While Tencent charges for some services and displays advertisements, Coral QQ provides free access to some of the services and blocks Tencent's advertisements. In 2006, Tencent filed a copyright lawsuit against Chen Shoufu (aka Soff), the author of Coral QQ, after his redistributing of a modified Tencent QQ was ruled illegal. Chen then published his modification as a separate add-on. On 16 August 2007, Chen was detained again for allegedly making profits off of his ad-blocking add-on.[25] His case is pending at Shenzhen Nanshan district court.

QQ International

Windows

In 2009 QQ began to expand its services internationally with its QQ International client for Windows distributed through a dedicated English-language portal.[26]

QQ International offers non-Mandarin speakers the opportunity to use most of the features of its Chinese counterpart to get in touch with other QQ users via chat, VoIP, and video calls, and it provides a non-Mandarin interface to access Qzone, Tencent's social network. The client supports English, French, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese and Traditional Chinese.

One of the main features of QQ International is the optional and automatic machine translation of all chats. Its last update was in 2014.

Android

An Android version of QQ International was released in September 2013.[27] The client's interface is in English, French, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese and Classic Chinese. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images, videos, and audio media messages. Moreover, users can share multimedia content with all contacts through the client's Qzone interface.

The live translation feature is available for all incoming messages and supports up to 18 languages.

iOS

QQ International for iPhone and iOS devices was released at the end of 2013,[28] fully equivalent to its Android counterpart. The last update was on January 20, 2017.

Partnerships

In India, Tencent has partnered with ibibo[29] to bring services such as chat, mail and game to the developing Indian internet sphere.

In Vietnam, Tencent has struck a deal with VinaGame[30] to bring the QQ Casual Gaming portal as well as the QQ Messenger as an addition to the already thriving Vietnamese gaming communities.

In the United States, Tencent has partnered with AOL to bring QQ Games as a contender in the US social gaming market. Launched in 2007,[31] QQ Games came bundled with the AIM installer, and competed with AOL's own games.com to provide a gaming experience for the AIM user base.

Web QQ

Tencent launched its web-based QQ formally on 15 September 2009, the latest version of which being 3.0. Rather than solely a web-based IM, WebQQ 3.0 functions more like its own operating system, with a desktop in which web applications can be added.

Social network website

In 2009, Tencent launched Xiaoyou (校友, 'schoolmate'), its first social network website. In mid-2010, Tencent changed direction and replaced Xiaoyou with Pengyou (朋友, 'friends'), trying to establish a more widespread network, to which extant QQ users could be easily redirected, hence giving Pengyou a major advantage over its competitors.[32] Tencent's social network Qzone is linked to in the International and native versions of QQ.

Open source and cross-platform clients

Using reverse engineering, open source communities have come to understand the QQ protocol better and have attempted to implement client core libraries compatible with more user-friendly clients, free of advertisements. Most of these clients are cross-platform, so they are usable on operating systems which the official client does not support. However, these implementations had only a subset of functions of the official client and therefore were limited in features. Furthermore, QQ's parent company, Tencent, has over successive versions modified the QQ protocol to the extent that it can no longer be supported by most, and perhaps any, of the third-party implementations that were successful in the past (some of which are listed below). As of 2009, none of the developers of third-party clients have publicized any plans to restore QQ support.

Merchandise

Tencent has taken advantage of the popularity of the QQ brand, and has set up many Q-Gen stores selling QQ branded merchandise such as bags, watches, clothing as well as toy penguins.

Controversies and criticisms

Dispute with Qihoo 360

In 2010, Chinese anti-virus company, Qihoo 360, analyzed the QQ protocol and accused QQ of automatically scanning users' computers and uploading their personal information to QQ's servers without users' consent. In response, Tencent called 360 itself malware and denied users with 360 installed access to some QQ services. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information reprimanded both companies for "improper competition" and ordered them to come to an accord.[35]

Government surveillance

Some observers have criticized QQ's compliance in the Chinese government's Internet surveillance and censorship.[36] A 2013 report by Reporters Without Borders specifically mentioned QQ as allowing authorities to monitor online conversations for keywords or phrases and track participants by their user number.[37]

Adware controversy

The Chinese version of QQ makes use of embedded advertisements. Older versions of the client have been branded as malicious adware by some antivirus and anti-spyware vendors.[38][39][40]

Both the Chinese and International versions of QQ had been tested.[41]

Security

On March 6, 2015, QQ scored 2 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. It received points for having communications encrypted in transit and for having a recent independent security audit. It lost points because communications are not end-to-end encrypted, users can't verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen (i.e. the service does not provide forward secrecy), the code is not open to independent review (i.e. the code is not open-source), and the security design is not properly documented.[42]

See also

References

  1. "Qq.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  2. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. 14 April 2014.
  3. http://im.qq.com/pcqq/
  4. "QQ for Mac".
  5. "QQ International download page".
  6. "I'm QQ - 每一天,乐在沟通". QQ.com.
  7. "QQ International - Chat & Call - Android Apps on Google Play".
  8. "QQ2011 at the iOS App Store". App Store.
  9. "QQ HD for iPad at the iOS App Store". App Store.
  10. "QQ for Windows Phone". im.qq.com. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  11. 1 2 Mair, Victor (2011-04-26). "A New Morpheme in Mandarin". Language Log. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  12. 1 2 "What is QQ?". qWhatIs.com. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  13. 1 2 McLaughlin, Ryan (2009-04-21). "Understanding Chinese Web site names". Ryan-McLaughlin.com. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  14. 1 2 3 Jucha, Nicolas (2012-09-01). "QQ – China's instant messenger". gbtimes. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  15. "im.qq.com/qq/mac/". Im.qq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  16. "WebQQ". webqq.qq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  17. "WebQQ Mini". w.qq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  18. "QQ for Linux". im.qq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  19. 手机QQ2008beta2发布 Archived December 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  20. 2014-09-18, Tencent QQ takes Guinness World Record for most simultaneous online users, Shanghaiist
  21. "QQ". Baidu Baike (in Chinese). Baidu. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  22. "dnf.qq.com/vip/info.htm". Dnf.qq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  23. "People's Daily Online - Central Bank alert on "virtual money"". English.people.com.cn. 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  24. "Virtual currency requires tough new regulations". News.xinhuanet.com. 2007-02-12. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  25. Ye, Juliet (2007-11-29). "Debate Over IM Add-Ons in China". The Wall Street Journal.
  26. "QQ International Official Homepage". Tencent. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  27. "QQ International for Android". Tencent. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  28. "QQ International for iOS". Tencent. Retrieved 2014-01-15.
  29. Anthony, Regina (2008-06-25). "Ibibo will sell 50% to Tencent Holdings". HT Media. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  30. "harryd844.wordpress.com/2007/10/29/zing-chat-prepares-to-sword-yahoo-chat/". Harryd844.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  31. "news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/14367/aol-rolls-out-aim-6-5". News.digitaltrends.com. 2007-10-03. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  32. RenRen IPO’s biggest hurdle might be PengYou, TradingStocks.me, April 2011.
  33. "Pidgin Developer Website".
  34. "Miranda IM - Addons - MirandaQQ2". Addons.miranda-im.org. 2010-12-25. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  35. Hille, Kathrin (2010-11-21). "Beijing probes Tencent and Qihoo 360". Beijing: Financial Times. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
  36. Wines, Michael; Lafraniere, Sharon; Ansfield, Jonathan (2010-04-07). "China’s Censors Tackle and Trip Over the Internet". The New York Times.
  37. "China - The Enemies of Internet". Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  38. "Spyware Research Center - Tencent QQ". Tenebril. 2004-10-27. Archived from the original on 2010-12-29. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  39. "Tencent QQ". Ca.com. 2004-08-16. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  40. "Remove Tencent QQ - Spyware / Adware Uninstall Instruction". Securemost.com. Archived from the original on 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  41. "Virustotal Report for QQ 2013". Virustotal.com. Retrieved 2013-10-30."Virustotal Report for QQ International". Virustotal.com. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  42. "Secure Messaging Scorecard. Which apps and tools actually keep your messages safe?". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
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