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Messenger 7.0b - Reviews
The first thing to note about messenger, is that Windows Messenger is different than MSN Messenger. Windows messenger comes with XP and works fine. It doesn't have background images, custom user images and auto save conversations or games. What it also doesn't have is ads, tabs or a huge screenspace requirement. I upgraged to MSN 6.2 because of the autosave conversations feature, and the ability to see the XBox online status of friends.
I installed messenger 7.0 beta because I am already used to ads, tabs, etc., and this version added some cool little features that sounded fun to play with (once). There are obviously more cool features than the pros I list below, but these are the features I find important.
Pros
In general, there probably are some interesting and cool features that let you do crazy emoticons and shake people's screen. You can also draw with the mouse and send the images, instead of typing. But this is what threedegrees is for!. They seriously need to have all these features be "display optional". I am even ok if they want to show ads, since apparently MSN can't stay in business without them. But the rest of the interface bloat is just too much to take. For my purposes, I'll use Windows Messenger, and boot into MSN Messenger only if I have a dire need to play checkers online.
I see shades of Netscape in this latest iteration of MSN Messenger. Dangerous territory, Microsoft.
Comments (4)I like the "sneaky logon", but the annoying number of tabs I'll never use + the personal icons are just silly... it's like kidware. Oh well.
John, February 8, 2005 09:23 PM:Hmm tabbed messenger = bad, tabbed IE = good. I hate to see tabs mis-used. Once upon a time you used to be able to turn off the tabs you didn't want.
John, April 26, 2007 08:49 PM:Rather than post a new messenger rant, I'll just add my two cents here. As bad as 7.0 was for hogging screen real estate was, live messenger (8.x) is even worse. Pretty soon there will be just 1 line of contact or message text showing. Don't laugh, I just installed it and tried to us it on a device with a small screen and seriously I don't think I can see more than 4 contacts. This finally pushed me over the edge. I had seen a patch to clean up messenger before but was hesitant to install it. But not any longer. I installed it on the above mentioned device and it allowed me to remove every annoying feature messenger had to offer. What I'm left with is a nice clean contact and message window, while still retaining the (desirable) features of the 'offical' client. This too really is a patch as it hacks with the messenger install. As such I've probably just joined a version war where I'll have to re-patch with a new tool everytime messenger gets rev'd. But it is worth it not to have to look at all that noise.
Paul, April 27, 2007 12:48 PM:That's one of the reasons I stopped using MSN Messenger: they stopped thinking about the user.
It seems obvious to us, I'm sure, that if you are using an instant messenger, you are really using it to have conversations with contacts. So why is there a stock tab, or a car tab, or an MSNBC tab?
The only thing I want to see there is my friend list and Xbox Live status. But even in the Xbox tab, you are forced to scroll past a large advertisement to see your friends. Of course, when the application refreshes the status, you have to re-scroll past the advertisement.
This is why I use GTalk on Windows (Adium on the Mac which can speak all forms IM). It doesn't have all the features I want, but it doesn't irritate me either.
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