I hate it when programs install shortcuts and the like without asking you. Real Player, for example, puts a shortcut on your desktop, in your start menu, and it installs several other programs that should be kept seperate (like realjukebox, netzip, download demon and comet cursor - all of which I despise). even worse, many programs suffer from terminal bloat. let's take a look at icq for a moment. Icq is like a 6 or 7 meg download. when I first started using icq, it had all the functionality it does now (more on that in a momet), and it weighed in at less than one meg. Now, where did all this extra meggage come from? from useless crap. I looked at icq's homepage builder, shuddered, and deleted the directory it kept all of it's graphics and templates in. I have never, and will never, use random chat, or phone/follow me, or the email "feature", or the browser, or voice messaging, or E-icq (whatever the hell that is). So where is the good old icq with messaging, file transfer, chat, and away mode? still there, but buried under a bunch of useless "features". To add insult to injury, when mirabilis decided that their program was too large, they removed the one thing I thought was actually useful: the mesage archive. oh yeah, they also removed the IP address from the info screen. now, "ftp to my IP as anonymous" takes longer because I can't just click on the info button and see the IP. So, as a result of Mirabilis being a bunch of stick-in-the-mud bloatware designers, I will issue this statement:


I Twilight Jones, being of mostly sound mind and vaugely egg-shaped body, Hereby demand that Mirabilis, the creators of the program ICQ, release a "stripped down" or "classic" version, with all the extra fluffy features amputated, and the core program intact. When Mirabilis releases this "classic" icq, I will stop bitching.