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Nutritional Wellness | Vitamins: Qq nutritionalwellness.com |
"QQ" redirects here. For other uses, see QQ (disambiguation).
 Tencent QQ, generally referred to as QQ, is the most popular free instant messaging computer program in Mainland China, and the world’s third most popular IM service.[3] The program is maintained by Tencent Holdings Limited (HKEX: 0700), owned in part by Naspers.[4] Since its entrance into Chinese households QQ quickly emerged as a modern cultural phenomenon, now being portrayed in popular culture. Aside from the chat program, QQ has also developed many subfeatures including games, pets, ringtone downloads, etc.
[edit] NamingThe original name of QQ was OICQ. The name was based on an already existing IMS (Internet Message Service), "ICQ". ICQ is one of the first modern IMS programs. The acronym "ICQ" came from the fact that the letters sound like "I seek you". "OICQ" stood for "Open ICQ". [edit] HistoryTencent was founded in Shenzhen (深圳市), China, in 11 November 1998. Tencent's instant messaging service platform "QQ" was formally launched in February 1999. After years of strong business growth, on July 16, 2004, Tencent Holdings Limited (SEHK 700) went public. [edit] DevelopmentQQ was initially developed by Tencent Inc. in February 1999. It was first released as a "Network Paging" real time communications service. Then other features were successively added such as chatrooms, games, personal avatars (similar to "Meego" in MSN), internet storage, and internet dating services. Most of these features were free. Its variety of features and easy-to-use interface made it very popular, especially among teenage users. In a few short years it was the most popular real time communications service in China. The current version of QQ is QQ2009 Beta2.[5] Tencent periodically releases special versions of QQ to coincide with events such as the Olympics or Chinese New Year. The official client runs on Microsoft Windows and a beta public version was launched for Mac OS X version 10.4.9 or newer.[6] The web version, which makes use of Ajax, is currently in Beta.[7] On July 31, 2008 Tencent released an official client for Linux,[8] but this has not since been kept in step with the Windows version, and older clients can prove less reliable.[citation needed]  In response to competition with Windows Live Messenger, Tencent released Tencent Messenger, which is targeted to 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.[9] [edit] MembershipQQ currently allows free registration for membership. In 2002, Tencent stopped its free membership registration, requiring all new members to pay a fee. However, free registration was reopened in 2003 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 services available:
[edit] MerchandiseTencent taken advantage of the popularity of the QQ brand, and have set up many Q-Gen stores selling QQ branded merchandise such as bags, watches, clothing as well as toy penguins. [edit] Controversies and criticismsQQ has faced many criticisms and controversies. Many users complain QQ provides fewer and fewer free services and an annoying number of ads. [edit] Adware classificationBecause of QQ's extensive use of advertisements and processes related to ads, it has been branded as malicious adware by many anti-virus and anti-spyware vendors.[11][12][13] [edit] Keyword filteringOn August 2004, QQ Games began filtering keywords such as "钓鱼岛" (Diaoyu Islands) and "保钓" (Movement to protect the Diaoyu Islands). This act caused much controversy and Tencent has since lifted the filter.[14] [edit] QQ real group name schemeOn July 21, 2005, Tencent announced its intention to follow orders set by Shenzhen Police and enforce the requirement of real names for all the administrators and founders of QQ Groups. This caused much controversy on whether it can prevent the spread of pornographic and other indecent messages, or whether it intrudes on one's privacy. However, the difficulty of enforcement made the real name registration optional.[15] [edit] Resource usageThe resources required to run QQ have increased substantially since it was first released, which has caused some people to turn to third party "lite" versions. [edit] Q coin The Q coin is a virtual currency 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 for using the mobile phone service. Due to the popularity of QQ among young Chinese, Q coins are now accepted by gradually more and more online stores and gaming sites in exchange for "real" merchandise such as small gifts, and raised the concern 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.[16] Tencent claims the Q coin was merely a regular commodity, and thus not a currency.[17] [edit] ModificationsCoral QQ, a modification of Tencent QQ, is a popular add on. While Tencent charges for some services and displays advertisement, 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, whose redistributing modified Tencent QQ was ruled illegal. Chen then published his modification as a separate add on. On August 16, 2007, Chen was detained again for allegedly making profits off his ad-blocking add on.[18] His case is pending at Shenzhen Nanshan district court. [edit] QQ InternationallyIn addition to its release QQ messenger internationally through its IMQQ[19] portal, in 2008, QQ began to expand its services internationally, working with partners throughout Asia and the USA. In India, Tencent has partnered with ibibo[20] to bring such services as chat, mail and game to the developing Indian Internet sphere. In Vietnam, Tencent has struck a deal with VinaGame[21] 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 USA, Tencent has partnered with AOL to bring QQ Games as a contender in the US social gaming market. Launched in 2007,[22] QQ Games comes bundled with the AIM installer, and competes with AOL's own games.com to provide a gaming experience for the AIM user base. In Italy QQ has release italian language version, QQITALY[23] translated by Sonky. [edit] Open source and cross-platform clientsUsing reverse engineering, open source communities have come to understand the QQ protocol better and have implemented client core libraries and user-friendly clients. Most of these clients are cross-platform, so they are usable on operating systems which the official client does not support. However, these implementations have only a subset of the functions of the official client and therefore are more limited in features.
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