Tech guru resurrects QQ’s 1999 OICQ with original eye icon — and it runs on Windows 11

The resurrection

A Chinese white‑hat hacker and Bilibili (哔哩哔哩) UP主 known as “边亮_网络安全” reportedly posted a video on March 26 showing what he says is the very first 1999 build of QQ, then called OICQ. It has been reported that after collecting multiple early builds — nicknamed “eye,” “skinny penguin,” and “pager” versions — the researcher unpacked installers, compared code and timestamps, and concluded the “eye” copy matches the earliest version’s compilation time and feature set. The build, reportedly released on Feb. 10, 1999, is a tiny 536 KB program whose interface and core chat functions closely mirror the English ICQ client that inspired it.

What it does and how he ran it

OICQ (OpenICQ) was Tencent’s (腾讯) free, Internet‑based pager-style instant messenger that supported online presence, one‑to‑one messaging, chat, file and URL transfer — simple features that would later scale into the sprawling QQ ecosystem. Because the original client communicated with servers that have long since shut down, the uploader reportedly built his own replacement server so the program could be demonstrated; account fields could be filled with any number, and he used the ID “10001” during his demo. Thanks to Windows’ long history of backward compatibility, the 1999 binary also ran on modern Windows 11 in his tests.

Context and significance

Why does a 536 KB relic matter? For Western readers unfamiliar with China’s tech history: QQ (腾讯QQ) became the dominant messaging platform that helped define Chinese social internet habits long before WeChat. Software archaeology like this offers a direct line into early design choices and UX borrowings — OICQ openly borrowed the look and feel of the Israeli ICQ client — and helps preserve digital heritage that corporate archives may not prioritize. It has been reported that Tencent employee Xu Gangwu (徐钢武) once said the company’s early logo idea was a pager before users voted for the now‑famous penguin, itself a nod to Linux.

In a period of intense geopolitical scrutiny of Chinese tech — from export controls to cross‑border regulatory friction — hobbyist preservation projects are a low‑profile way to study how major Chinese platforms evolved. Will Tencent release official archival builds or documentation? For now, the demo is a reminder: the roots of huge modern services can be shockingly small and surprisingly accessible.