And with AOL's business going down the tubes in the early part of this decade, it basically neglected ICQ. It had an inherent conflict, since it had its own IM program. Trillian came about around then to provide a single interface to all IMs-it now supports Google Talk, Facebook, Twitter, ICQ and other communication apps-but it lacks a lot of the features of the specific messaging apps.įor a while, ICQ thrived and surpassed more than 100 million users.

We had AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ and a few other also-rans. This was before the wave of insane megadeals.īy that point, we had a crowded IM market. In 1998, AOL, which had by then spun off AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) as a stand-alone app for non-AOL subscribers to use, bought Mirabilis for $287 million, plus another $120 million based on performance. Over time, ICQ added multi-user chat, SMS support and file transfers. Users were assigned a number rather than a user name like we have on Skype. Anyone could message you even if you were not on their friends list. It was a pretty basic app, and it lacked a lot of the security we now take for granted. It was all coming from a nifty little program I'd discovered called ICQ, which let me talk to friends in real time.Ĭreated by a group of Israeli college students who eventually formed the company Mirabilis to support development of the app, ICQ stood for 'I seek you' and was intended as a way for Windows users to communicate much in the same way Unix users could send real-time messages. It is a practical framework based on the most researched cross-cultural models to explain how national, cultural values and beliefs shape our behavior.'ĭr.About 20 years ago, I started driving co-workers within listening distance crazy with constant chirps of 'Uh oh!' emanating from my laptop. “The Platinum Rule® model spans all cultures BUT it is important to remember that people around the world are socialized into a certain preferred way of behaving and The Global DISC model explains why.

Marshall Goldsmith - Only two-time Thinkers 50 #1 Leadership Thinker in the world. Global DISC makes this process clear and highly actionable.” 'Bridging the gap between our intention and the actual impact on others is the foundation of great leadership. John Mattone, the #1 Authority on Intelligent Leadership and the World’s Top Executive Coach, Steve Jobs’ former coach “Global DISC is a powerful tool for Intelligent Leaders to leverage personal and cultural differences for competitive advantage, to enable trust and to build high-performing teams at home and globally.”

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