Yahoo Vs Microsoft, The BIG fight!!!! (Yahoo! Messenger)

Member Name: uncle_bob

Product:	Yahoo! Messenger
Date:	11/08/02 (8278 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, Interactive , Secure

Disadvantages: Voice chat could be better, Is getting big

Well, Having read through some opinions on Yahoo! Messenger, I figured I would put my 2 pennies worth in and give my opinion on the whole whose better, Yahoo or Microsoft, as that seems to be the big argument these days.
Also, both parties have released new versions, making a lot of the opinions outdated now.
Now I am a user of both, MSN and Yahoo messenger (which will be referred to as pager from now on, as that’s its nickname and easier than typing yahoo messenger all the time).
Both these messengers have advantages and disadvantages. But which one is better?
Well I must say to start, that which one is better is dependent on what you want from a messenger service. Just because one is maybe better at voice chat, doesn’t mean it is good through and through. So, here it is, the battle of the messengers, fight 1 (by the way, you will also find similar battles on other software, if you look through my opinions ;o) )

Yahoo! Vs Microsoft. Here are the rules of combat. Each piece of software will be put head to head against each other and will be reviewed on the following categories:
Looks
Stability
Security
Instant messaging
Voice Chat
Webcam support
Size
Resource usage
Customer support
Features
Versatility.

Those are the rules, play by them. The versions I am using are the latest versions available from both parties, Yahoo! Messenger 5.5 Beta, and MSN 4.6. These were the most current when writing this.
I am running Windows XP, 256MB Ram, 1.33GHz Processor, and using a Creative 56k Dialup modem, usually connected at 45000bps.

So, we begin

Looks:
Well, although the looks of these messengers doesn’t really effect their performance, if your going to be sat at your computer using them for hours on end, you might as well have something nice to look at, agree? So, how do they look?
Pager: It has to be said that since Pager was released it hasn’t
changed much in how it looks on your screen. Apart from taking advantage of the latest rendering capabilities of Windows etc, it still is that square box with a friends list and so on. However, this isn’t a bad thing, as it looks fine. It’s easy to see what’s what on it, and you don’t have to go far to get what you want.
Friends list is laid out easily, and clear icons to see who is and who isn’t online.
Menus can be a bit cluttered, with features your probably never going to use, but they are not visible usually.
You can change the look off pager very easily, using skins, which you can download, or make yourself, easily. These can transform your pager, and you can make it look like anything you want.
It isn’t huge and so doesn’t hog your entire screen, and can be set to disappear when you ask it to and sits in the corner quite happily minding its own business.
Instant message windows are clear, have a big enough window to allow you to see what is being said, and can be resized to suit.
Text, etc can be changed in looks to your liking, and uses the ‘colour fade’ effects, meaning you can make your text look very pretty easily, using any colours you want.
Emoticons are fun, and has a good selection available, not all are listed in the menu, but the codes for them are available all over the Internet. They are animated, and make it a little more fun.
Overall, it is a nice looking piece of software, and doesn’t need changing. Layout makes it easy to use.

MSN: MSN has changed slightly over the years, but is still the typical windows box.
The latest version does have a better friends list that before, allowing you to organise friends into different categories, not essential, but I’m sure some people would like it.
The same size and shape as pager, really by default, but is resizable, if you want.
It is a little cluttered though. Trying to put too much
on the main screen. With advertisements flashing at the bottom. And sponsor links on the side, however these can be removed if wanted.
The main annoying thing about the look is it tries to give you to much information at the top about yourself. I know my name, and I know not to give out credit card numbers to anyone over the computer, it doesn’t need to tell me that all the time.
Text windows are rather plain, but do the job. Big enough window to see what is being said.
Options to change your text colour are available, but limited, no text fade option.
Emoticon selection is fair. With all the main ones you may want to use, not animated, and not as well drawn as pager, but good enough.
Not skinable which is a big let down, so you have to deal with what you are given. Changing your Windows theme will change MSN’s theme but it means you have to change everything.
Overall, it is more aimed at being basic and practical, more than eye appealing. But isn’t an eyesore.

STABILITY:
A big thing I think in messenger software, nothing worse than having a serious conversation with someone and then being kicked off. Usually leads to the other person thinking you are ignoring them, or something. Also has to be stable in the Windows environment, don’t want it crashing Windows all the time.

Pager: Stability is much better now. I have left my pager running 3 days solid and it hasn’t disconnected, where as before it would often just disconnect for no apparent reason.
It is still not perfect though. Is still known to disconnect you without warning, but usually reconnects itself pretty quickly afterwards. And it is rare this happens.
Seems very stable in Windows, and runs without problems usually.
The problem with it not sending messages all the time seems to have generally been repaired in the latest versions, and to date I haven’t had any serious problem with it not sending what I type.


MSN: Built for Windows, by Windows basically. A Microsoft product so obviously runs well in Windows.
It's sometimes known to disconnect and not reconnect until you tell it to, but rare, and not a common problem.
Have had a few kernel errors caused by MSN in the past, usually when attempting to disconnect, but again, not a common problem.
Overall it is as stable as pager, but has the advantage of being a Microsoft product.

SECURITY:
A big thing with any online service. Security is often not thought about by people who use these products, and often don’t realise where they got a virus from, or how that hacker got in.

Pager: Probably one of the most secure messengers around at the moment. Yahoo! Seem to have taken it quite seriously.
There are programs around, which are written by crackers, which allow people to spy on messenger, or cause it to crash etc, but usually very short lived and very hard to come by these days as it gets harder and harder to do. Usually the method used for these programs is picked up fast and protected, making them useless. Actually funny when you get a wannabe booter, trying to use an old program on you, and failing badly, and with some clever tweaking, can often be made to backfire on them.
IP addresses are hard to obtain via pager, and often any attempt to trace a connection via pager is stopped at the Yahoo! Servers. Only time when you are really at risk is when sending files to unknown people, or receiving files, as this, with the right software, can reveal your IP address. But common sense protects you from that by not sending or receiving files from or to unknown people.
It is almost impossible to get a virus via Pager, as it doesn’t provide a gateway in which the virus can get onto your computer. Only way is with file transfers, and again, common sense will prevent this.
Overall, it is the most secure messenger, and although, professionals will always find a way
around any security feature, you are probably at more risk using Internet explorer than you are pager.

MSN: Unfortunately, next to ICQ, this is probably one of the worst for security. I have contracted 2 or 3 viruses via MSN, from people I know, and are unaware they have sent a virus.
It is easy to set up Trojans, or worms to work with MSN and send them easily to everyone on someones friends list.
Also, because it integrates itself with your windows address book, your contacts are also at some risk from nasty people.
It is also easy to hack via MSN, and because of its integration into Windows, it can reveal an easy backdoor into your system for a professional. Although a bit better than before, it is still of concern.
Loads of programs around that will do all sorts of things with MSN, which in the wrong hands can cause serious problems.
A virus scanner is a must when using MSN, as even if you know the person you are talking to, viruses can be transferred without their knowledge.
Overall security on MSN is poor. Microsoft has never been good at security, and it shows here too. You have to be careful.

INSTANT MESSAGING:
Ok the important bit, how are they at doing their job, that’s sending instant messages to other people.

Pager: Seems to do its job well. IM boxes are clear, and it is easy to look at a glance who is saying what. Names are separated by being in bold blue, and spaced well which means you don’t get confused with what is being said.
Sends and receives messages fast, although, can sometimes hang a few seconds, if the message is very long, and you are on dialup, but because the other person hasn’t seen it, it doesn’t tend to cause any misunderstandings.
The status messages at the bottom, tell you when you last got a message, and also when your friend is typing a message, so you know if they are there or not, or if they are replying, so you don’t need to ask if the
y got that or something.
Imvironments add a nice colourful touch to your message, and make it a more interactive experience, with games built into them, as well as animated effects going on. Can be disabled at will, and you can use any number of different ones for different people at the same time.
The buzz feature, makes the Imvironments more interactive, with different ones giving different effects when you buzz a friend, instead of just the standard dingdong, you used to get.
You can still talk to people, even if you are in invisible mode, meaning you can opt to not show yourself online, if you want to just talk to one person without letting anyone else know you are on.

MSN: Again, works well, and is reliable. Very rare you get a situation where it hasn’t sent your message. Also uses the friend is typing a message system, so again you know if you are getting a reply or not.
Not being able to send or receive messages while being invisible is a down, as it means you can only talk to people, if you let everyone see you are online.
PM boxes are kind of plain though, with no interactive options or text fade. It is just a white box, with text in it.
Can get confusing sometimes, as names are in standard black, and because of the limit in what you can do with your text, often blend in with what is being said, and you have to read carefully to see what it says.
Its plain, but works well, and allows you to talk real time easily. Just not as interactive and fun.

VOICE CHAT:
This feature allows you to chat with people via a microphone, just like you ring them. Not essential to everyone, but a nice feature if you have it, and not to shy to use it.

Pager: Voice is integrated into the software, and works well. Connection to audio servers is fast, and usually works first time.
It allows you to have conferences meaning any number of people can use voice chat at the same time.
However, it will only allow on
e person to talk at once, on a first come first serve basis.
This is fine if there is just 2 of you, but in conferences it can get a bit untidy and difficult.
It is possible to do some fancy tricks with pager and voice chat, allowing you to do things like play CDs over voice, without the messy and untidy method of sticking the microphone next to your speakers. Again, not essential, but fun and a much clearer way of doing it.
You can listen to other people, even if you don’t have a mic yourself.
Hands free option means you don’t need to keep pressing the talk button to talk, but it can cut off the start of a sentence as it starts up.
Overall, it can be bettered, but if you just want one to one voice chat, it does it well, and reliable, with good quality, only let down by your hardware usually.

MSN: Well this is going to be hard for me, because I have only ever got the voice function to work a few times. It uses Microsoft’s NetMeeting software, which in the past I have found to be pretty useless.
When you do get it to work mind you, it works well, and is probably better than pager in terms of ease of use and functions. Allowing multiple talkers.
Harder to be fancy with, if you wanted to be, as it takes over the soundcard and you cant do anything else with your sounds, like play MP3 etc.
Overall, it is better than pagers voice function, but not as reliable.

WEBCAM SUPPORT:
With technology advancing the way it is, it is now possible to actually see each other live via a webcam while you chat to the person, be it by voice or text. A feature that is becoming more and more important.

Pager: Yahoo! Snapped onto this fast, and did well from the start. Their webcam support is very effective.
Super Format, allows anyone with broadband to transmit pictures with a fast framerate and good quality, making it almost like they were there. Problem is that it will only work with broadband connections
, and both people need to have broadband and the new pager version to view it.
Broadcasting in standard mode however means anyone can view it, and the quality is still good enough.
Option to hide your cam status from other users is very useful, and being able to control who sees and who doesn’t, makes it safe from prying eyes.
It will also work with chat, if you want to, meaning you can be in a chat room and be seen, if your brave enough.
A lot of setting controls, which integrates into your cameras software letting you adjust picture quality easily, and maximises the ability of the camera.
It isn’t monitored by Yahoo, so if the need took you, you can be safe in the knowledge, only those intended can see you. And is sent via a secure server, meaning it cant be hacked into by anyone else.

MSN: Again, its let down by having to use Microsoft’s NetMeeting, which is basically a poor bit of software. But as with voice, once you get in, it is good.
I have not used it much again, because of the software, but when I have used it, it performs well, and is good quality, again, giving you some setting control, allowing you to adjust the quality.
I don’t know if it is monitored or how secure it is, but I would say it isn’t monitored. I am also not sure of if it is routed via a server or direct, meaning I don know how secure it is in terms of unwanted users viewing it.
Overall, it works well, but is let down by external software, and would do better if it used integrated software.

SIZE:
By this I mean file size, how big they are, and how much room they take up. Not really a big issue with today’s hard drive size, but if you are like me and use partitions on your discs, then file size can come into play when installation directory is required.

Pager: As it stands, fully installed uses 11MB of disc space. That’s with everything installed, but NOT with message archiving enabl
ed, which can gobble up space if you use it a lot.
Everything is contained within the Yahoo folder, with just a couple of DLL files put into the system folder.


MSN: MSN installed uses 2.25MB of space, however that does NOT include NetMeeting, which is needed for voice and webcam support, add NetMeeting at you add 3.25Mb onto that size.
It is spread out over various folders and copies files to various system areas to integrate with windows.

RESOURCE USAGE:
This is something people seem to think, doesn’t matter, but like in one opinion I have read, it is an important area, because when you are running IE, Windows, maybe got other software open, your memory and bandwidth can soon reduce to a mere few MB, which doesn’t leave much left for anything else.

Pager: When running, with no PMs in operation uses 11MB of memory, and 0% CPU usage.
Bandwidth, is unaffected when not in use, and only uses a minute amount of bandwidth, just to keep itself in contact with the server.
System requirements:
Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, XP, or 2000 with Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher.
Will work in Linux and on Macs


MSN: Again, with no PMs running uses 6.7MB of memory, which changes now and then, for some reason, and uses 0-1% of CPU. Bandwidth again is not really affected although slightly more is used than pager, but nothing that is going to effect normal operation of your connection.
System Requirements:
Any version of Windows, However, older versions of MSN may be needed for old Windows versions.
CPU = 486DX/66 or higher
RAM = 8Mb
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.01 or later must be installed on your computer, though it does not need to be your default browser. (I love it how they have to say that these days, to avoid getting into trouble ;o) )
Will work on Mac, but will not work in any other non-Microsoft operating system, i.e. Linux.


It is worth mentioning tha
t both these tests were done with just the programs running. If you start PMs, or webcam or anything else like that, your resource readings are greatly effected, and it isn’t possible to test all situations, but in general, Pager is the more friendly on resources on average, doing various tasks, but it all depends on what you are doing.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT:
Sometimes, things just don’t go right, and you need to resort to asking someone what is going on, now granted I have not had much need for customer support so can not say I am an expert but I can go from the experience I have had.

Pager: Offers a good online support area, with most general problems you may come across mentioned in the FAQ section.
If you do have to contact them, then make sure you tell them as much about your system as possible, but they usually reply fairly fast, and actually tell you what the problem is, as well as how to fix it, if it can be fixed.

MSN: Support from Microsoft has always come at a price, and contacting them for help usually involves some form of fee. However, it is possible to get help online, from various sources. Microsoft not really being one of them, but you can search the net, and find other people who have had the same problem and tell you how to fix it.
So overall support is good, but no thanks to Microsoft unfortunately.

FEATURES:
Basically intended to give you a rough outline of what you get with each program, Its not testing which feature is best, or worst, just how many, and if they are needed.

Pager: Standard features are:
Webcam support with super format.
Chat client with various added features like nicknames, webcam support, voice etc etc, using the Yahoo! Chatrooms.
Voice chat,
Imvironments,
Stock alerts and various other alerts
Yahoo profiles
Available in various languages
Member directory
Message archiving
Offline message support
PC to phone call
support (only any good in the US)
Text Fade support
1.5MB file transfer support
Animated emoticons
Those are the basic functions, but not all. Yahoo, add things all the time.
There aren’t any features your not likely to use really, apart from the PC to Phone feature, which is no use unless you are in the States.

MSN: Standard features are:
Phone call support (works anywhere in the world, but costs)
Voice chat
Limited chat room support
Large file transfer support
Pager support, allows you to send messages to mobile phones or pagers, again only US.
Emoticons (Not animated)
Display name can be changed
Hotmail inbox notification
Again, those are just some of the features, and by no means all of them.
As with pager, the phone call stuff is no use if you are not in the US, however It does work in other countries, but costs, so is probably more reliable to use a standard land line.


OVERALL CONCLUSION
Well, it’s been an interesting comparison. Overall I think I will have to declare Yahoo! Messenger the winner, mainly because of its ease of use, and wide function use.
MSN is good, if you just want to talk to someone, or if Voice chat is your game,
Pager is more suited for the everyday chatter, and is better I think for chatting to multiple users and if you want to use webcam, or have some fun when chatting. Pager accommodates for that and offers a much more interactive interface putting you closer to your friends.
Security is the other big thing I feel Yahoo! has over MSN here, which is a big important factor.
I feel MSM is let down by its builders, Microsoft, who are more worried about what the competition is doing, instead of how to make theirs better.
I’m afraid for now, Yahoo! Have won this battle hands down, however, I am sure there will be a rematch in the near future, so watch this space!

Summary: