Editing Tencent QQ (section)

==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]]).<ref name="LangLog">{{cite web|last=Mair|first=Victor|title=A New Morpheme in Mandarin|publisher=Language Log|date=2011-04-26|url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3111|access-date=2012-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319065128/http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3111|archive-date=2012-03-19|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WhatQ">{{cite web|title=What is QQ?|date=31 January 2011|publisher=qWhatIs.com|url=http://www.qwhatis.com/what-is-qq/|access-date=2012-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531222159/http://www.qwhatis.com/what-is-qq/|archive-date=2012-05-31|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Ryan">{{cite web|last=McLaughlin|first=Ryan|title=Understanding Chinese Web site names|publisher=Ryan-McLaughlin.com|date=2009-04-21|url=http://www.ryan-mclaughlin.com/blog/the-tech-dynasty/understanding-chinese-web-site-names/|access-date=2012-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622062730/http://www.ryan-mclaughlin.com/blog/the-tech-dynasty/understanding-chinese-web-site-names/|archive-date=2012-06-22|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="China's">{{cite web|last=Jucha|first=Nicolas|title=QQ – China's instant messenger|publisher=gbtimes|date=2012-09-01|url=http://gbtimes.com/focus/science-technology/qq-chinas-instant-messenger|access-date=2012-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607094154/http://gbtimes.com/focus/science-technology/qq-chinas-instant-messenger|archive-date=2013-06-07|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After the threat of a [[trademark]] [[Copyright infringement|infringement]] lawsuit by the [[American Online|AOL]]-owned ICQ, the product's name was changed to QQ<ref name="WhatQ" /><ref name="Ryan" /><ref name="China's" /> (with "Q" and "QQ" used to imply "cute").<ref name="LangLog" /><ref name="China's" /> The software inherited existing functions from ICQ, and additional features such as software skins, people's images, and emoticons.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}}  QQ was first released as a "[[Simple Network Paging Protocol|network paging]]" real-time communications service. Other features were later added, such as [[chatroom]]s, games, [[Avatar (computing)|personal avatars]] (similar to "Meego" in MSN), [[File hosting service|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://im.qq.com/qq/mac/ |title=im.qq.com/qq/mac/ |publisher=im.qq.com |access-date=2011-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121214310/http://im.qq.com/qq/mac/ |archive-date=2010-11-21 |url-status=live }}</ref> Formerly, two web versions, WebQQ (full version) and WebQQ Mini (Lite version), which made use of [[Ajax (programming)|Ajax]], were available.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://webqq.qq.com |title=WebQQ |publisher=webqq.qq.com |access-date=2011-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210125202/http://webqq.qq.com/ |archive-date=2010-02-10 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://w.qq.com |title=WebQQ Mini |publisher=w.qq.com |access-date=2011-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715134423/http://w.qq.com/ |archive-date=2011-07-15 |url-status=live }}</ref> Development, support, and availability of WebQQ Mini, however, has since been discontinued. On 31 July 2008, Tencent released an official client for Linux,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://im.qq.com/qq/linux/ |title=QQ for Linux |publisher=im.qq.com |access-date=2011-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313092126/http://im.qq.com/qq/linux/ |archive-date=2011-03-13 |url-status=live }}</ref> but this has not been made compatible with the Windows version and it is not capable of [[voice call]]s.

In response to competition with other instant messengers, such as [[Windows Live Messenger]], Tencent released Tencent Messenger, which is aimed at businesses.

===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]] (WLM) and [[SINA.com|Sina UC]].
Tencent currently offers a premium membership scheme, where premium members enjoy 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:
* Red for the QQ Show service which features some superficial abilities such as having a colored account name.
* Yellow to obtain extra storage and decorations in [[Qzone]]—a blog service.
* Blue to obtain special abilities in the game-plays of QQ games.
* Purple for obtaining special abilities in games including QQ Speed, QQ Nana, and QQ Tang
* Pink for having different boosts in the pet-raising game called QQ Pet.
* Green for using QQ music—a service for users to stream music online. <!-- though sometimes consuming a lot of disk space due to caching. -->
* VIP for having extra features in the chat client such as removing advertisements
* Black for gaining benefits related to DNF ([[Dungeon Fighter Online|Dungeon & Fighter]]), a multiplayer PC beat 'em up video game.