RATHER HAVE MELINDA MESSANGER ON THE DESKTOP (Microsoft MSN Messenger Service)

Member Name: yoshitoshi

Product:	Microsoft MSN Messenger Service
Date:	16/08/01 (199 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick , typing feedback

Disadvantages: simple

Microsoft is trying to catch up in the instant messenger (IM) arena. So is there offering of any suitable standard to other services I use like ICQ or Odigo.

INSTALLATION

To be able to use IM you need a Microsoft passport from Hotmail or by some other means. Once IM is downloaded it is a breeze to install like most other programs.

YOUR FRIEND IS HERE LET’S SHOW THE WHOLE OFFICE

If you have friends and have added them to your IM, you can see your friends coming online as a big pop up post it note allowing anyone behind you to see that Miss Slut with Whip is now online. As IM is integrated with your Hotmail account you can see your Buddies (oh how American) that are online through Hotmail, so you can dash to install IM and talk to them if they are still around. Whenever a mail enters your Hotmail mailbox IM will alert you to that fact how useful.

AS RELIABLE AS THE SUN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT

I find that out of the 3 messenger service networks, MSN IM seems to be the most reliable but this depends on the network usage to some extent. In comparison I would think that ICQ has a lot more users, which produces some network latency between messages. Sometimes a message with ICQ or Odigo will sit there for ages to send or not even send at all. The message window in IM is similar to a chat window in Odigo and message in ICQ. However if you do not have the chat window open the messages are crammed into an illegible post-it style note. I really like the fact it tells you when the other party is typing a message, this shows that they have not disappeared for a pint and are still there talking to you.

CAN YOU SUCK GOLF BALLS THROUGH 10 METRES OF HOSEPIPE?

With IM you can only transfer 1 file at a time, ICQ and Odigo can send files to the same user multiple instances. Also I find sometimes IM locks up when it starts a file transfer and you can type or use the IM until it has freed itself up.


LETS ALL GO NON-STANDARD SMILEYS

As in typical Microsoft fashion it has taken the standard ASCII smiley that the common people use and degraded them into small pathetic pictures. The list is not very well populated and just contains basic if at all useful smiles and pictures. It is as if they thought it was a good idea but then halfway through development they just couldn’t be bothered any more.

THE AIR MASKS COME FROM ABOVE AND THE EXITS ARE LOCATED?

MSN IM has managed to disown even Microsoft standards. The X button in the top right-hand corner to close the program, does sweet FA apart from minimise the window. Instead you have right click on the MSN Icon in the task bar and chose the Exit menu. This is confusing and it should be changed to keep in line with Windows Operating system standard functionality.

CRIMINAL PROFILES

I have to say the public profiling is very poor in IM compared to Odigo or ICQ. The public search engines are far superior in being able to search on mutual interests or age etc. But IM is just for private chat and should not be publicly accessible, which defeats the point of a public profile if no one can read it apart from people you know. To be fair if you want to be contacted personally then you can make yourself visible to only friends in ICQ or Odigo allowing duel functionality so why use IM.

IM like ICQ and Odigo allows the changing your display name and your public profile/details to the world. However I find Odigo far superior with its gallery of display faces which can be tailored to a more accurate personal description of your own looks.

CONCLUSION

So is it worth downloading MSN Instant Messenger well to be honest if you have Odigo or ICQ it is really not worth the bother as I can not see any advantage in doing so.

UPDATE 05 JULY 2001

MSN Messenger service did not work from 3rd July and whole of 4th July. Not only did
the service break, but it lost all my contact details. My friend also lost the whole of his. Waste of space software....

Summary: