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Odigo Messenger

by 42 Comments

Odigo "radar"

Odigo "radar"

At one time, back in 2001, Odigo offered multi-protocol connectivity and features that haven't been matched today.  The interface was quirky and fun, with an innovative “radar” interface that let you discover other people with similar interests who were also online. 

Odigo was skinnable to express your personality, brandable through a partner program, and one of the first applications to incorporate a mood indicator. 

In May 2002, Comverse acquired Odigo for $20 million. 

Up until about 2004, Odigo provided connectivity with ICQ, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger (now known as Windows Live Messenger, or just WLM).  Comverse had other ideas for Odigo, and maintaining an advertiser-supported public IM program was not part of their plan. Beginning in August of 2004, the Odigo network began experiencing connectivity problems. 

First to go was the multi-network connectivity with AIM, ICQ, et. al.

Finally in April 2006, Odigo breathed its last gasp. 

Odigo was an interesting, innovative product. In some ways, way ahead of its time.

Useful Links


 

CrunchBase Information
Comverse Technology
Information provided by CrunchBase

Comments

  4. Odigo provided a wonderful connection to interesting ppl all over the world. The ppl searches, the locations and ppl on line privisions were perfection.

    The easy of use, the visibilty of ppl on line, and the graphics were so right for everyone.

    Truly very far ahead of its time because nothing today matches it… Nothing!

    All the messanger services today are lined up in a poor way. They provide a poor visual experience for the user. I do not enjoying their connections, their easy of use, their corporate style I guess.

    Please bring ‘Odigo’ back!

    LoReaNNa (Canada)

  5. Sir, this news is very much painful.!! In 2001 I first got ODIGO got engrossed with it. My world was ODIGO with so many good friends.we shared our haapy time. i was really haapy those day.But being an middle-class Indian I could not afford anymore the cost of internet and finally had to stop surfing.since that time i had saw a lot of ups and downs in my life with financial tumult. Now I am teacher in a college.six months ago I again planned to reunite with my ODIGO FRIENDS'..ALAS..I could not find them as ODIGO was the only medium to do it.Now i find Chen, Kaska, Ina, Alya are lost forever from my life.But I have their photographs.This is the consolation.God Bless them…

  7. I guess the death of odigo meant a lot to people, to the world!! why theres no other like it? isn´t there a “market” to this kind of thing? so sad, we all lost ourselves in some way, bye poland, bye tailand, bye bulgaria… oh my miss so much bulgaria..

  9. I lost SO MANY friends all over the world with the collapse of Odigo, BRING BACK ODIGO!!!BRING BACK ODIGO !!!

  10. I want to know about my friends from ODIGO!!! Please, let us log in once and look for our lost friends!!!!!!!!!!!
    Please!!!!!!!! We want ODIGO!!!!!!!!

  11. Odigo was the best Internet Instand Messaging I have had, very far ahead of its time… we need it back

  12. OMG i miss odigo so much, i met nice people there with the radar thing… they just don’t do that quality of things anymore 🙁

  14. I really miss chating on Odigo, used this site to chat for years. There is not a single chating site that is even close to Odigo, sad to see.
    Maybe others could have learn something from Odigo. Sure would be nice to see something similar one day.

  15. I really miss Odigo, IT’S WONDERFUL INSTANT MESSENGER EVER. I knew many interesting people there before. Wish it back soon

  16. I really miss Odigo, IT’S WONDERFUL INSTANT MESSENGER EVER. I knew many interesting people there before. Wish it back soon

  18. One of the best internet pagers ever. Quick, stable, great usability, wide community.

    Brings back so much memories…

  21. did their offices also collapse on 9/11, or were they just nearby? i hear odigo mesenger service saved some lives that day. special shout out to the chosen ones in the area. GTFO aye.

  22. I lost SO MANY friends from all over the world with the collapse of Odigo, BRING BACK ODIGO!!!

  24. Odigo was such an amazing tool, which opened the world to many people. I am forever grateful to my friends who I met thru their service! I wish it would come back!

  25. Bring back Odigo! I met so many wonderful individuals through Odigo and luckily still chat with a good friend from Poland! ^^

    Cheers from the USA!

  26. iDiGo – New WEB- interactive communication service

    We hope that you will become the permanent user of iDiGo and the same will support our enthusiasm for further development and improvement of new resource.

    Welcome,
    Command of http://www.iDiGo.org

  29. New WEB- interactive communication service- iDiGo

    There is a new online service. His “Communicator” very similar to ICQ. In my opinion a simple and convenient solution that can find its users. It is possible to store and transfer files.

    It is written in PHP / Ajax and uses MySQL for data storage.

    http://idigo.org/

  30. It was really painful for me…where is my odigo…why you stop it? I miss my all friends there in Odigo…since 2002 I was using my Odigo…Oh my Baby Odigo come baxk to me I miss you badly…I love you my dear…

  32. 10years past till now,but I never stop missing Odigo. It was so wonderful , like sunshine in my gray days, like fairplace in the lonely night.. Please, tell me the real reason why it was closed. And , whether it can be bought by another company?

  33. I miss odigo im always searching to c if its back up and running………….PLZ bring it back,,,,i do miss my friends nuttin like odigo

  34. the best ppl that I have known !! odigo gave me an amazing time! I miss u.
    Somebody knows any chat similar like Odigo… ?

  35. the best ppl that I have known was in odigo, it gave me an amazing time! I miss u.
    Somebody knows any chat similar like Odigo… ?

  37. Her sound, she looks, the way of finding friend, all are much better any than any IM softwares now a days, The company of Odigo should’v earned much than MS

  41. Wow! Such a blast from the past! This was one of my first professional logo designs after graduating from art school.

  42. I remember Odigo messenger with a lot of melancholy? I took my first steps on the internet there

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