MSN Messenger for Mac.

[GreyFox1221]

Is there anyway to get it for Mac? (Just got my Mini today!!!!!) :D

[EGT]

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx#MSN

There somewhere ..

[mkrishnan]

If you're using text chat only (and not audio/video) then it may also be worthwhile to consider adium -- it's free, and it does MSN, AIM and Yahoo. :) www.adiumx.com

[jared_kipe]

if you are using Tiger, (I assume you are), you could use jabber through ichat to talk to your MSN buddies.

[kgarner]

if you are using Tiger, (I assume you are), you could use jabber through ichat to talk to your MSN buddies.
I use this method and it works great. Here is a good tutorial on setting it up.

http://allforces.com/2005/05/06/ichat-to-msn-through-jabber

Just change his instructions on adding the accounts to address book to match this set up:

email%emailserver.tld@msn.jabberserver.tld

The msn in front of the jabber server is what makes it work.

[rickvanr]

Proteus is a nice alternative to Adium as well. Either way, Adium and Proteus are both extremely better then MS' MSN for Mac.

[mkrishnan]

Ahhh, yes, while we're on the topic of multi-platform chat, one more option is Fire (http://fire.sourceforge.net), which is multi-platform. I haven't played with it much, though. I think, so far, as of the last update, Trillian is actually my favorite multi-platform IM ever, but it is PC only, AFAIK.

[stevey500]

I have used Adium for like 5 months.. and i downright love it, but if you want the messenger 7.0 features, there is Mercury

[dornoforpyros]

be warned, the mac version of MSN is BRUTAL. As with everyone else I must recommend adium. It takes a little while to get used to a new interface but once you do it's great.

[lordmac]

Man, I feel sorry for those of you who have to use msn messenger on the mac because really the best instant messaging experience by far imo on the mac is just using ichat with the aim system. There is nothing like isighting with your girlfriend till 7am. An experience i very happily just had last night. :D ;)

[Dreadnought]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :eek:

[FelixDerKater]

Adium is the only instant messaging solution for the Mac worth wasting your time on.

[pusman83]

I kinda like the simple uncluttered mac version of MSN Messenger. Not having display pics kinda sucks, though.

I'm having a problem with it: the MSN icon in my dock reverts to the "Applications" icon when it is running.

[pusman83]

Can anyone help me with the dissappearing icon?

[rickvanr]

Can anyone help me with the dissappearing icon?

Delete the application, then re-install it.

[redAPPLE]

there is a tutorial on using jabber in http://allforces.com.

imo, a better could and should be made (because i tried it, and it didn't work). :rolleyes:

[BENJMNS]

i love msn messenger. the only way to go

[rickvanr]

i love msn messenger. the only way to go

I can taste the sarcasm.. :p

there is a tutorial on using jabber in http://allforces.com.

imo, a better could and should be made (because i tried it, and it didn't work). :rolleyes:

Expect iChat to be compatible with more services in the future with the hiring of Justin Wood.

[howesey]

Also aMSN if you want to use webcams, have your songs appear in your name etc. It also had addons that are like Messsenger Plus!.

[rickvanr]

Also aMSN if you want to use webcams, have your songs appear in your name etc. It also had addons that are like Messsenger Plus!.

Good point, but Proteus can also display what ever song you're listening to in it as well, and I'm sure Adium can as well. Plus, aMSN is a nasty java application if I remember correctly.

[Spanky Deluxe]

I gather in the states everyone pretty much uses the AIM network. Over here in the UK I don't know anyone who uses anything other than MSN. Universities over here live off it. I really wish the Mac version supported personal messages, winks and nudges.

[iEdd]

Microsoft messenger for mac is ass.
Adium is probably the most stable.
aMSN has great features but is ass too.
Mercury is the only way to get all the features, yet remain with pretty good stability.
I use mercury because I am sick of the error messages when my friends need to nudge, wink and play crappy games and then I need to explain to them I have a mac, then they still give me the windows download link, so I explain to them what a mac actually is and it's annoying.

[mkrishnan]

Mercury is the only way to get all the features, yet remain with pretty good stability.

I finally tried Mercury in detail because I wanted to webcam with someone. It's really pretty good. Although I still use Adium unless I need to webcam.

Stupid and semi-OT: So on PCs, is webcam chatting on MSN text/video with no audio (unlike iChatAV for instance)? That's what my friend said hers does, and it surprised me. Also I tried to iChat with an AIM user... does AIM on PC support simultaneous bidirectional audio and video, or also only video + text?

[McBain]

I gather in the states everyone pretty much uses the AIM network. Over here in the UK I don't know anyone who uses anything other than MSN. Universities over here live off it. I really wish the Mac version supported personal messages, winks and nudges.


Exactly. All my American friends are on AIM and all my UK friends are on MSN. And since my fiancee is on MSN, that means I'm on MSN most of the time.

While iChat is cool, I love the way MSN archives chats (and for various reasons I'm in the archives quite a bit). The iChat equivalent isn't intuitive enough.

I would do anything for a version of MSN that supported the iSight camera. Sigh.

[cruxed]

Does Mercury and aMSN support the iSight, if so, I'm getting one.

[AppleinJapan]

What about Skype ???

Its the best !!

[howesey]

aMSN supports both internal and external iSights.

[McBain]

Just to clarify, if I have aMSN and I buy an iSight, will I be able to have video while chatting with someone on MSN on Windows?

If so, hell yeah!

[howesey]

Yes.

Just tried Mercury, webcam support seems slow and eats up CPU.

[mkrishnan]

Just to clarify, if I have aMSN and I buy an iSight, will I be able to have video while chatting with someone on MSN on Windows?

Yes.

Howesey is right about the CPU time... Mercury, in particular, is very slow because of Java, I think. But it's relatively stable and all the features work. I've used it for several hours with happy results. But again (bumping my question above...) unlike iChatAV, it's text and video. No audio, as far as I can tell.

[howesey]

I've always wanted to start a project with Mozilla Foundation to make a decent IM client for different platforms and OS's. Havn't got the time though. :(

[FongMan]

Well i'm expecting my MBP soon so i guess i'll try the jabber thingy you guys were talking about. problem is i'm in Jamaica and Apple doesn't ship to us, so i dunno how the hell i gettin it down :mad:

[FongMan]

What about Skype ???

Its the best !!

Does skype support iSight?

[swisspilot737]

Hello Guys,

I have bought a Macbook 5,1 with OS 10.1 version and i have been really looking forward to making the Msn messenger work with a camera.
Apart from the Skype that allows me to work the camera, non of whyt you mentioned here does work.

I saw someone talking about the yahoo messenger, i downloaded the version 3.0 beta and i it does not allow me to use the camera.
It does allow me to open e camera, and it says that i am opening a broadcast show, which that does not help me in the case of talking to someone that is using the msn messenger at all.

Can someone out there explain in a simple way, and suggest one good messenger that work with msn messnger and give the web address to where i can just go and download it please guys.

This is the first time i have been using mac, i love the machine but it would be fantastic if i can make this matter work also...

Thanx everyone for all your help.:)

[Tallest Skil]

Hello Guys,

I have bought a Macbook 5,1 with OS 10.1 version and i have been really looking forward to making the Msn messenger work with a camera.
Apart from the Skype that allows me to work the camera, non of whyt you mentioned here does work.

1. No you don't. Check your OS version again.
2. aMSN works, and has been discussed up at the top of the page.

[swisspilot737]

I am using a MAC OS X 10.5.5 VERSION.

this is what i am using at the moment.....

MSN messenger work but the camera does not work on it, and according to this page here and what all these guys have said that it does not work with the camera but there are alternate options....

I just need to know what and where can i download it.

[swisspilot737]

Hello everyone, If you want to make your msn work including your camera try this it is awesome...

So no need to download it just sign in online directly....

www.meebo.com that should do the trick...

I am so happy and this is the way to do it. I don't like all that talk do this check this port is it this is that just give me the simple way,

like the website where to get it or download it and done deal...

If anyone has a better idea and knows that it works better than this please keep me posted, like i mendtioned i know nothing about

Mac this is my first mac computer.... I am opened to idea but please keep it simple, imagine you are explaning this to dumers..

Take care everyone

[swisspilot737]

Well, as far as www.meebo.com it is good but not as good as i thought.

For example you can send someone on msn messenger your cam, and they can see you and hear your but for them to send you their cam to you apparently does not work they have to be on the same page also, meaning signed in from meebo also..

I just wish i can make this MSN 7.1 version crap work with the camera.


Any one had discovered anything regarding this matter....

Come cone guys i am sure there are smart geeks out there that made it crack already...

please let me know.. i desperatly need this ***** to work....

Thanx everyone

[wheezy]

Don't use the Microsoft MSN Messenger, download a program called 'aMSN'. It's spoken of at the top of the page. Read the thread man.

And... nevermind.

[queshy]

holy thread resurrection

[jmann]

holy thread resurrection

+1 and I think it deserves it's own thread.

[OS X Dude]

Does skype support iSight?

straight out of the box my friend

[scottydawg]

Yahoo Messenger now communicates with MSN Messenger and there is a decent version for Mac on Yahoo's so that is another option.

[TheGinger]

I've tried the MS' version of Windows live messenger, aMSN, Mercury and Jbuddy.

So far the two that support webcam are aMSN and mercury but aMSN is a very unstable software and doesn't run smoothly and Mercury hasn't got a very good layout or design.

Out of microsoft and Jbuddy which do not support Windows live Messenger I still believe that the MS version has the best interface out of them all.

I still have to try yahoo messenger. I think that it will be more likely that yahoo will be more stable and have a good interface too. :apple:

[challiman]

I've had the computer one week today. I used MSN IM to talk to my granddaughter, who is unable to talk. We IM every day, sometimes several times. I never thought I would have a problem using it on the Mac, when I finally replaced my old PC.
So, I've read the thread and am afraid I still don't quite get what my options are. I have a MacBook, OS X Leopard, and when I went to the MSN website it says it isn't supported by my browser. I don't know what some of the abbreviations are in this thread, so a little more explanation would be really helpful.
I am not trying to use the webcam for that. Just want to be able to "talk" to granddaughter every day.
Thanks for understanding

[challiman]

Sorry, I mean my granddaughter can't speak. She has some disabilities. I didn't mean that she had a computer problem from her end. :o

[carlosbutler]

all you need to do is install MSN for Messenger. You can download it from the microsoft mactopia website. Here is a link (http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/D/7/1D7339E7-8BD5-4900-830E-952C4FEE8479/messenger702.dmg) to the download assuming you want the program in english.

Then just open and install.

[scottydawg]

I've had the computer one week today. I used MSN IM to talk to my granddaughter, who is unable to talk. We IM every day, sometimes several times. I never thought I would have a problem using it on the Mac, when I finally replaced my old PC.
So, I've read the thread and am afraid I still don't quite get what my options are. I have a MacBook, OS X Leopard, and when I went to the MSN website it says it isn't supported by my browser. I don't know what some of the abbreviations are in this thread, so a little more explanation would be really helpful.
I am not trying to use the webcam for that. Just want to be able to "talk" to granddaughter every day.
Thanks for understanding


I would suggest as another option to use Yahoo Messenger which does communicate with MSN IM people or you can both use Yahoo. It works great with both Mac and PC. You can find it here:
http://messenger.yahoo.com/

[challiman]

Bigman....
I get an error message on my Mac that says MSN Live Messenger isn't supported by my browser. It won't download.

I will be going to the Apple Store, two hours away, on Monday, will see if I am doing something wrong, but apparently from all these posts others are having trouble doing the same thing.

Yahoo? Well, I will check that out, also. Thanks to both of you.

[challiman]

I hit the link just to check on it and it downloaded and I can now sign in! Thank you so much. I somehow hit download twice, will have to get rid of one of them I suppose. In any case, problem solved for now. Unless it is a real pain, then I can explore other options.

[jalagl]

Another vote for Adium. You may miss WL's emoticons, though.

[-SD-]

Everyone I know here in the UK uses Microsoft Messenger so I may as well just stick with whatever comes with Mac Office. I recently upgraded to Office 2008 and Messenger works just as well for me as it's always done.

It's not like I use it a great deal so I'm not bothered about any extra features or all that jazz. I'm just happy that it's part of the Office suite and the Entourage integration is as much as I need. What I would like to see is a native M$ Messenger application for the iPhone.

:apple:

[challiman]

I encountered a problem with the WM I downloaded from the link provided here. It worked fine last night but today it started acting funny and wouldn't close, basically froze, plus I got three warnings that something might be wrong with it. Called Apple Care and was advised to delete the whole thing and go straight to the Microsoft website and see what they offer for Mac.

I will say that so far Apple Care has been nice but they sure don't seem to have many answers about things that aren't Apple products. Since they're trying to get PC customers, you'd think they'd know all about PC's so they could help people when they change from PC to Mac. That is the second time in one week that they really couldn't provide knowledge about products that would work with Mac.

I'm brand new, though, so will hope for the best.

[VirtualRain]

Does anyone else here besides me find this thread funny as hell... not that there's anything wrong with a 4 year old thread on MSN messenger in the Mac Pro forum that has more readership hits than most Mac Pro threads! :D:p

Guess we just don't have much relevant stuff to talk about besides the endless threads on "What Mac Pro should I get?" :rolleyes: :o

[challiman]

Virtual,
Yes, I suppose it is funny to those who've solved all these problems or issues. It seems to me this would be easily solved after all these posts. It shouldn't be that difficult to have Windows Live Messenger work on a Mac. And it seems to me Apple Care folks would have a handle on it already. After all, it would benefit Apple to have the answers to this problem rather than customers being so frustrated they go back to a PC. There are very specific reasons I want to continue using WLM, as mentioned above. I was just sure that after all this time Mac would work with pretty much everything. I still think it will, I just haven't discovered it yet.
As for why this particular thread, I am new to this site and when I did my search this thread came up.
So, I'll keep plugging along. And I'll go back and re-read all the posts on here to see if there is another way to do it.

[scottydawg]

Virtual,
Yes, I suppose it is funny to those who've solved all these problems or issues. It seems to me this would be easily solved after all these posts. It shouldn't be that difficult to have Windows Live Messenger work on a Mac. And it seems to me Apple Care folks would have a handle on it already. After all, it would benefit Apple to have the answers to this problem rather than customers being so frustrated they go back to a PC. There are very specific reasons I want to continue using WLM, as mentioned above. I was just sure that after all this time Mac would work with pretty much everything. I still think it will, I just haven't discovered it yet.
As for why this particular thread, I am new to this site and when I did my search this thread came up.
So, I'll keep plugging along. And I'll go back and re-read all the posts on here to see if there is another way to do it.


Did you try Yahoo yet? It is really easy to set up MSN people on Yahoo.

[carlosbutler]

I encountered a problem with the WM I downloaded from the link provided here. It worked fine last night but today it started acting funny and wouldn't close, basically froze, plus I got three warnings that something might be wrong with it. Called Apple Care and was advised to delete the whole thing and go straight to the Microsoft website and see what they offer for Mac.

I will say that so far Apple Care has been nice but they sure don't seem to have many answers about things that aren't Apple products. Since they're trying to get PC customers, you'd think they'd know all about PC's so they could help people when they change from PC to Mac. That is the second time in one week that they really couldn't provide knowledge about products that would work with Mac.

I'm brand new, though, so will hope for the best.



sorry that you had a problem, but its a link straight to microsofts mactopia site. i even used that download to upgrade my older version of MSN...

[Spanky Deluxe]

Holy old thread batman! I even posted on it when I was relatively new on here three three years ago.

Virtual,
Yes, I suppose it is funny to those who've solved all these problems or issues. It seems to me this would be easily solved after all these posts. It shouldn't be that difficult to have Windows Live Messenger work on a Mac. And it seems to me Apple Care folks would have a handle on it already. After all, it would benefit Apple to have the answers to this problem rather than customers being so frustrated they go back to a PC. There are very specific reasons I want to continue using WLM, as mentioned above. I was just sure that after all this time Mac would work with pretty much everything. I still think it will, I just haven't discovered it yet.
As for why this particular thread, I am new to this site and when I did my search this thread came up.
So, I'll keep plugging along. And I'll go back and re-read all the posts on here to see if there is another way to do it.

Challiman, its not Applecare's fault - blame Microsoft for their msn clients. They've been pretty bad for years now and have lacked many features compared to the Windows version. Before you start banging your head against a wall I'd strongly recommend just giving up trying to get video working and just use Skype for video calls instead. Get your granddaughter to install it too of course.

Personally, I use aMSN with the growl plugin and non-tabbed conversation windows. It supports webcams but not video conferencing (i.e. no audio). Its not an ideal solution, not nearly as polished as MSN for Windows was but its done me fine for the past few years. If I want video then I'll open up Skype.

[challiman]

First, love your name. Our Olde English Bulldogge is named Spanky!

I wasn't trying to use the video at all. I just wanted to be able to Instant Message with granddaughter. She has to type since she is non-verbal, and while we could use the webcams at times, that's not my focus on this thread. She does use sign but I can't keep up with her on that, her fingers just fly! But, your suggestion for Skype could be very helpful.
Thanks for the reply. I guess frustration is normal when changing formats. As for Apple Care, I realize they didn't create the problem but it would be great if they could be helpful when these issues come up.

[Spanky Deluxe]

First, love your name. Our Olde English Bulldogge is named Spanky!

I wasn't trying to use the video at all. I just wanted to be able to Instant Message with granddaughter. She has to type since she is non-verbal, and while we could use the webcams at times, that's not my focus on this thread. She does use sign but I can't keep up with her on that, her fingers just fly! But, your suggestion for Skype could be very helpful.
Thanks for the reply. I guess frustration is normal when changing formats. As for Apple Care, I realize they didn't create the problem but it would be great if they could be helpful when these issues come up.

Hmmm.... if you're not using video then most of the MSN clients, including Microsoft's official one should be fine.

Microsoft Messenger can be downloaded from here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?pid=Mactopia_Messenger&fid=E3F79AE4-7B7C-42AB-89C0-EC5F513C24F3#viewer (same file as linked before but not a direct link this time. The link to 7.0.2 is in the bottom half of the page.

If you're new to mac then you may want to have a look at some of the essential software lists that have been posted a few times on here.

Personally, I would always install the following straight out:

Perian (http://perian.org/) - Lets QuickTime play most video formats.
Flip4Mac Quicktime components - Lets QuickTime play most Windows Media files.
[url=http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html]VLC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx) - If Quicktime still can't play a file then VLC often can - useful as a backup video player.
Growl (http://growl.info/) - Shows pop up messages similar to those you would have seen with MSN in Windows. Is used by many, many third party software and is generally a good thing to have. Installs as a preference plane.

If Microsoft's official messenger client doesn't work for you then you could give AMSN (http://www.amsn-project.net/) a try. Its not ideal, by a long shot, but it does have things like rudimentary webcam (image only) support and if you activate the Growl plugin (in AMSN, choose the AMSN menu and then "Select Plugins", click "growl" and click "Load"). and then if you wade through the complicated AMSN preferences and set it up with things like not to used tabbed windows (Session tab in preferences, lower half of window under "My Messaging Interface") then it works pretty much the same as Windows Messenger. Sending files doesn't always work too well though (don't try to send more than one at a time usually).

The problem with MSN is that its a closed connection protocol, i.e. Microsoft won't tell anyone else how exactly they do it. They (purposely?) keep the OS X client way behind the Windows client in functionality and the makers of third party clients have to try to work out how the MSN service works and basically have to hack their stuff together. :(