WHY can't Microsoft Messenger handle video chat from MSN!?@##

[lamina]

WHYYYYYY can't Microsoft Messenger for Mac OS receive/transmit webcam? Why am I limited to iChat that NO ONE USES? WHY do I have to run from my PowerBook to my iMac, boot it into Windows and have MSN Messenger crash on me *3* times?!!?

I'm sure its not Mac OS that doesn't allow me to use a webcam. YET! Why does it seem that pretty much the only webcam compatible with Mac OS is the $200 iSight. All I want is to view my little cousins in Italy. That's it. I dont want to have to boot to Windows on my iMac.


Is there a program/client that will allow me to view webcam content from a MSN messenger contact?

[janey]

That's not a Mac OS problem, it's a MSN Messenger problem.

Sorry I don't know how to answer your question though :S

[Chundles]

Yeah, it's Microsoft's problem for not integrating video/audio chat into it's crippled, crap version of Messenger for Mac.

Hopefully MS will put it into the next version of Messenger but for now it's a sucky, sucky situation. Get on the wire to Microsoft and let them know what you think.

But no, it's not an OSX problem.

[tdhurst]

Do THAT many people actually use MSN messenger? I've never been a fan of it, PC or otherwise, nor has anyone I know.

[MBPmad]

Is there a program/client that will allow me to view webcam content from a MSN messenger contact?

http://cmq.qc.ca/4w/amsn/

This may help as well:
http://www.mercury.to/

[janey]

also, all webcams for the most part work with OS X. And instead of the iSight you can substitute your own firewire digital cam. Or use pretty much any USB webcam and iChatUSB or whatever that software's called that lets you use any webcam with iChat.

[erikamsterdam]

Yahoo messenger has webcam capabilities. Also available for Window$. Even for Linux.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/messenger/download/mac.html

And as a true Mac person you *naturally* convince your family in Italy to buy a Mac. iChat's video is superb though, way way better than crappy jerky M$N.

Edit: You can also buy ISPQ for $30 or so. Works on Mac and Win and is also way more stable than M$N.

[Chundles]

Do THAT many people actually use MSN messenger? I've never been a fan of it, PC or otherwise, nor has anyone I know.

It's not popular at all in the states but in the rest of the world it's the number 1 IM client with a bullet. I don't know of anybody who uses anything else and it's damned annoying to have MS release a version lacking so many of the basic PC functions.

[aloha]

It's a little bit of a pain but aMSN and Skype do the trick for me!!

[ikonq]

Do THAT many people actually use MSN messenger? I've never been a fan of it, PC or otherwise, nor has anyone I know.

really depends on where you are.

it's extremely prominent in australia.

I'd suggest Mercury Messenger BTW, It's very good, almost all the funcitonality of 7.1 for windows- BUT it's a Java App.

[lamina]

Thanks for all the replies. aMSN is actually pretty good! Sure beats Microsoft Messenger for Mac.

I'll give it a shot, thanks all!

[ReanimationLP]

That's not a Mac OS problem, it's a MSN Messenger problem.

Sorry I don't know how to answer your question though :S

Janeys right.

MSNs webcam part sucks.

It crashes out on my Windows XP machine.

And Windows Live Messenger (MSN Messenger 8) isnt any better.

[odedia]

aMSN for Mac OS X works great with MSN and webcams. No need to boot windows.

[jive]

aMSN is great but I didn't like the way it looked. I use Adium - which hopeully should support webcams soon...

[munkees]

you can use ichat with aol aim accounts and aol aim people on the other side, it is how i video with my brother, works well

[Platform]

Skype should get Video support for the Mac too, iChat should get MSN support too ;)

[lamina]

Update: I have been using aMSN, and I absolutely love it! Video chat works great, and it shows you a lot of the gritty stuff like when the person closes the chat window and who's on your list, but has you deleted on theirs, and much more. I recommend it to anyone who uses MSN.

[Spanky Deluxe]

aMSN sure is lovely. I've been using it for just over a day and think its great. I tried Adium but it didn't support video. I tried Mercury but it was uuuugly as hell even with skins and the isight came out blue. AMSN is absolutely lovely though, combined with Growl. I do wish it had audio support but you can always use Skype for that I guess.
I don't know anyone that actually use AIM/iChat over here in the UK. I have two contacts on my iChat list and they're both mac users who wanted to test iChat out. Simply everyone's on MSN here. I've got over 60 contacts and yet that's little compared to half the people I know!! If you go to University in the UK you use MSN. Its part of the degrees here.

[Saluki Alex]

Everyone I know around here in Southern Illinois uses MSN, I know of no one around here who uses AIM or Yahoo. Perhaps it's a regional thing in the US.

And as for aMSN, since it's not Universal (I don't think) it runs pretty slowly on my MacBook Pro. Regular old MSN Messenger (not universal either) runs much better IMO.

[quigleybc]

Everyone I know uses AIM

[sk1985]

Do THAT many people actually use MSN messenger? I've never been a fan of it, PC or otherwise, nor has anyone I know.

Yes actually. I have friends that live in other states (I live in IL) and all they use is MSN. I say they must live in some F-ed up backwards world though. Some thought it was weird I used AIM.

[notjustjay]

Everyone I know uses AIM

Everyone I know uses MSN (almost 100 contacts) -- except for about 3 people who use AIM. The odd one uses ICQ or Yahoo.

The 3 AIM users... are all Americans.

So it's definitely a regional thing.

I use Adium on my Mac to keep logged onto all of them, and I switch over to aMSN if I'm expecting to see a webcam.

[shuurajou]

I really wish that Apple & Microsoft would bang their heads together and make iChat run on the Microsoft Messenger platform the same way iChat runs on AOL.

I can never connect to iChat for more than a few seconds, half the time my messenges don't deliver when I attempted to use it & webcam certainly didn't work. My QuickCam Sphere didn't work with OS X either, despite logitech claiming it does.

[Queso]

I really wish that Apple & Microsoft would bang their heads together and make iChat run on the Microsoft Messenger platform the same way iChat runs on AOL.

That's not going to happen. Microsoft are protective of MSN Messenger to the point of paranoia. As with their file formats and protocols, they like to make certain features Windows-only to discourage their customers from moving to other operating systems.

Windows heads may deny it, but currently Apple are the biggest threat to Microsoft's continuing dominance of the consumer area. There's no way they are going to remove an obstacle that prevents Windows users switching to Macs, especially on software they don't earn a penny from.

[HughJ]

iChat is crap, Video support is awful & will NOT Work with anyone using AIM (that would be a total of three people i know who use it), Yahoo is ok, but can be problematic with video, Mercury is too damned demanding and is really flakey

[macOSX-tastic]

most video chats usually comprise of people going...can you see me? i can see you!!!! etc etc etc infinite loop.

there is a very small number of people that use it for something useful.

my logitech Quickcam pro for notebooks works fine with my PB, but not with ichat; no one i know uses ichat anyway.

Adium is good for me. i just wish that they would enable a greater support for showing emoticons, for example, when i type :D, it comes up as : D on adium. they overcomplicate the key sequences for these smileys.

S

[mcmillan]

I hope this AV Guide (http://mmg.channelwood.org/guides/av/av.html) helps.

[notjustjay]

most video chats usually comprise of people going...can you see me? i can see you!!!! etc etc etc infinite loop.

there is a very small number of people that use it for something useful.


That's because there are so few people who are equipped to do it right!

I was at a friend's house one day and his teenage daughter fired up a webcam chat with one of her friends. The thing was dark and blotchy, but (to their credit) not blurry and grainy like most $20 webcams are. The video was moving jerkily along at a steady 3-5 fps. Her dad looked at it and proudly said to me "Now THAT's about as pristine a webcam image as you're ever going to get."

Uh.... no, because when I fire up an iChat video stream with another Mac user, we can do full-motion, full-screen video with hardly any lag or jerks at all...

[mkrishnan]

iChat is crap, Video support is awful & will NOT Work with anyone using AIM (that would be a total of three people i know who use it), Yahoo is ok, but can be problematic with video, Mercury is too damned demanding and is really flakey

Well, you're clearly angry about this...but... I have successfully used iChat to do video with AIM users....

[slb]

[rant]
WHYYYYYY can't Microsoft Messenger for Mac OS receive/transmit webcam? Why am I limited to iChat that NO ONE USES?

AIM is the #1 instant messenger, so I don't get why you think nobody uses it.

[Spaceman Spiff]

AIM is the #1 instant messenger, so I don't get why you think nobody uses it.

I've noticed that often there's large areas and communities that are pretty much dedicated to one messenging client. I have friends outside of the province that use Yahoo. However, I'm yet to meet someone at my school, or even in my city or province (though I probably just haven't met enough people) that don't use MSN as their IM client. So one can see why it would appear that no one uses a different one.

[mkrishnan]

AIM is the #1 instant messenger, so I don't get why you think nobody uses it.

It would seem that this claim is pretty open to debate -- a study done in Apr. 06 pegged MSN as having the most users worldwide (http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=800) and didn't find a huge predominance of any one client in the US. Anecdotally, it's North America where AIM is relatively more popular, as others have noted. But what data supports the view that it is the "#1 instant messenger?"

From the study:

The MSN Messenger application has the strongest penetration worldwide, with 61 percent of worldwide IM users utilizing the application in February.

[zap2]

all my friends use AIM but i use Adium and that can take all of the main clients so i'm good:)

[4JNA]

anyone using AIM ...

should be shot. dead. aol sucks. anything to do with aol or from aol sucks. anyone who says 'aol is ok' sucks. anyone who knows what the letters 'aol' stands for sucks. just typing the letters 'aol' sucks.

msn is no better.

anything else is fine.

[DaftUnion]

Because Microsoft probably wants people to use windows and doesn't want to give the Mac version of messenger any functionality.

[richard.mac]

im in australia and i wish that most people used AIM regardless of whether video chats work that well or not. ive come to realise that msn is really slow and has sucky features. most of my friends who use it havent come to realise that. most of them think that instant messaging IS only msn. ichat is a wonderful client and probably has the best video chat features BUT knowone i know uses AIM or .mac so ichat is withering away on my mac. THANK GOD for adium!