MSN Messenger MAC

[kjdenison]

Where is the update? There are TONS of new features in Windows 6.1 version. Yet us mac users still have 3.5 with terrible features. We are left way behind. I know for a fact that Apple updates itunes, and quicktime for windows, why doesn't Microsoft update msn messenger for mac? Any news?

Kurt
www.kurtdenison.com

[NarKEd]

oh yea that sucks. thats why Im goint to start programming software myself and mac apps will never be behind the windows ones again

[virividox]

well it took them a long time to update ms office of mac, i doubt msn messenger is high on the list of apps to update. but i agree i would like better features.

[bousozoku]

Updating MSN Messenger for Mac only costs Microsoft money. They don't gain anything from it--they might lose a little loathing though.

iTunes is updated because Apple wants to sell iPods to Windows users. QuickTime is updated because it keeps the film and t.v. industry interested in Apple and it keeps an alternative to Windows Media Player active.

At least, Messenger works much better than it did prior to 3.x.

[NarKEd]

You cant say they dont gain anything from it.. how about all that publicity they add at the bottom of the window?

[johnnyjibbs]

3.0 (that came with Office) didn't work at all for me at uni - couldn't connect. I upgraded to 3.5 and now it can (but only for 10 minutes at a time before cutting out). MSN 4.0 is supposed to be coming with Office '04 this summer, but I doubt it'll bring much..

I use Fire now because at least that can handle MSN without cutting out all the time, so it's actually of use now. I'm not interested in the games like the Windows version - I'd like to see video and audio chat. (Yeah, I know, iChat AV/AIM 5.5 but no-one uses AIM that I know, can't convince them, and no-one I know has a Mac).

I really wish iChat AV played ball with MSN... I love the interface but it sits there as a useless app for me...

[NarKEd]

just downloaded fire. awasome app and no more banners : )
Its going to be very nice when they integrate the audio/video chat support

thanks for the info.

[7on]

MSN Messenger 4.0 for Windows was the first version to offer video/audio support, so I'll be rash and assume the same for MSN Messenger 4.0 for OSX.

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by kjdenison
Where is the update? There are TONS of new features in Windows 6.1 version. Yet us mac users still have 3.5 with terrible features. We are left way behind. I know for a fact that Apple updates itunes, and quicktime for windows, why doesn't Microsoft update msn messenger for mac? Any news?

Kurt
www.kurtdenison.com IIRC, M$ has stopped development on the free version of MSN Messenger. Like its web browser, Microsoft's new chat client will be available only as part of its MSN fee-based subscription service.

[B@SS_SHOCK]

I wish Microsoft would give Apple the chat cliet source code and add it to iChat so Microsoft no longer has to be s**theads always taking their time upgrading their "Macrosoft" stuff.

Nobody I know uses AIM (or ICQ or YIM), so to have things like buddy icons and audio/video capabilities on iChat using MSN would be a god-send.

[johnnyjibbs]

Originally posted by MisterMe
IIRC, M$ has stopped development on the free version of MSN Messenger. Like its web browser, Microsoft's new chat client will be available only as part of its MSN fee-based subscription service.
Are you sure? That's not what happens on the PC side of things is it? I'd have thought they'd want to make MSN free for Mac users - gets them using Microsoft products instead of iChat/AIM, Yahoo, etc.

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by johnnyjibbs
Are you sure? That's not what happens on the PC side of things is it? I'd have thought they'd want to make MSN free for Mac users - gets them using Microsoft products instead of iChat/AIM, Yahoo, etc. I am certain that IE will no longer a standalone app in Windows. It is being folded into the OS. As for MSN Messenger, it is my understanding that the Windows client will go the same way as the Mac client. It will cost you money. This is old news, so I may not remember all of this quite clearly. Given Microsoft's reasons for ending the free version of MSN Messenger for the Mac, it makes no sense to keep the free version of the Windows client. Microsoft loses money on MSN, but it wants to keep the service but earn a profit on the service. Since it loses most of its money on Windows users, it makes sense that the Windows client be fee-based.

[johnnyjibbs]

I heard that IE was becoming part of Windows itself yes, not a standalone app. I suppose MSN is also pretty integrated within the OS also, hence the hassle my mum has with downloading AIM 5.5 and getting that not to conflict with MSN! Still, Microsoft doesn't have the option for integrating MSN for Mac into the OS, and the only way they could make the new version be paid for is if they only include with Office '04 which will upset a lot of people. I would have thought that they would offer it for free as they have done so already, just like they still bother with Windows Media Player 9 for Mac and MSN, etc. Then again, they could work with Apple to get it integrated into iChat AV and then they wouldn't have to bother making a Mac version of MSN...

[7on]

They bothered with WMP9 because they want the wmv format to become a "standard." But I do think MSNmessenger4 will come with Office.

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by johnnyjibbs
...

Then again, they could work with Apple to get it integrated into iChat AV and then they wouldn't have to bother making a Mac version of MSN... You just don't get it, do you. It is not a matter of development costs for a chat client. In the greater scheme of things, those costs are minimal. Microsoft wants and needs the profit stream that MSN has thus far failed to provide. Microsoft feels that you may be willing to pay for the MSN subscription service because you can't get MSN Messenger any other way. If Microsoft can get the profits, development costs be damned. The web browser to be bundled with the MSN for MacOS X client software will not be the old IE, but a new browser altogether.

P.S. MSN Messenger has been bundled with Office v.X since Day 1. Bundling the software with Office does not in an of itself give the Office user a subscription to the service.

[ipoddin]

Originally posted by MisterMe
I am certain that IE will no longer a standalone app in Windows. It is being folded into the OS. As for MSN Messenger, it is my understanding that the Windows client will go the same way as the Mac client. It will cost you money. This is old news, so I may not remember all of this quite clearly. Given Microsoft's reasons for ending the free version of MSN Messenger for the Mac, it makes no sense to keep the free version of the Windows client. Microsoft loses money on MSN, but it wants to keep the service but earn a profit on the service. Since it loses most of its money on Windows users, it makes sense that the Windows client be fee-based.

I'm not so certain about that. Wasn't part of the whole anti-trust suit against MS because the browser was so tied to the OS??? I believe as a result MS has to make it possible to remove the browswer from the OS.

[floatingspirit]

Originally posted by johnnyjibbs


I really wish iChat AV played ball with MSN... I love the interface but it sits there as a useless app for me...

...same here...cool, but useless...:rolleyes:

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by ipoddin
I'm not so certain about that. Wasn't part of the whole anti-trust suit against MS because the browser was so tied to the OS??? I believe as a result MS has to make it possible to remove the browswer from the OS. Yes, but that was Windows 98. Apparently, future versions of Windows are not part of the settlement. I know it really sucks. It makes the court's finding that Microsoft is an illegal monopoly seem like a cruel joke on Microsoft's victims.

[jholzner]

Originally posted by johnnyjibbs
I heard that IE was becoming part of Windows itself yes, not a standalone app. I suppose MSN is also pretty integrated within the OS also, hence the hassle my mum has with downloading AIM 5.5 and getting that not to conflict with MSN! Still, Microsoft doesn't have the option for integrating MSN for Mac into the OS, and the only way they could make the new version be paid for is if they only include with Office '04 which will upset a lot of people. I would have thought that they would offer it for free as they have done so already, just like they still bother with Windows Media Player 9 for Mac and MSN, etc. Then again, they could work with Apple to get it integrated into iChat AV and then they wouldn't have to bother making a Mac version of MSN...

No one is going to pay to use MSN messanger I don't think...if that becomes the case everyone will just switch to AOL IM or Yahoo...microsoft has to know this.

[johnnyjibbs]

Originally posted by MisterMe
You just don't get it, do you. It is not a matter of development costs for a chat client. In the greater scheme of things, those costs are minimal. Microsoft wants and needs the profit stream that MSN has thus far failed to provide. Microsoft feels that you may be willing to pay for the MSN subscription service because you can't get MSN Messenger any other way. If Microsoft can get the profits, development costs be damned. The web browser to be bundled with the MSN for MacOS X client software will not be the old IE, but a new browser altogether.

P.S. MSN Messenger has been bundled with Office v.X since Day 1. Bundling the software with Office does not in an of itself give the Office user a subscription to the service.
Yes I know, MSN is included with Office because it's removing an obstacle (i.e. having to download it) to get MSN onto your system, just as Windows users who try to download QuickTime tend to end up with iTunes as well - Apple wants iTunes on as many Windows systems as possible.

However, as someone else said, no-one is going to use MSN messenger if they have to pay for it and I can't see much of a market for their MSN subscription service. It would be nice from Microsoft's point of view to get some earnings from it but, at the end of the day, that's unlikely to happen but they are still content on getting their programs used by as many people as possible. They would like the MSN messenger standard to become THE standard, not for people to use AOL or Yahoo. This may then also entice people onto profitable software, such as Office or Vitual PC (although, this is Microsoft software - probably not!)

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by johnnyjibbs
Yes I know, MSN is included with Office because it's removing an obstacle (i.e. having to download it) to get MSN onto your system, just as Windows users who try to download QuickTime tend to end up with iTunes as well - Apple wants iTunes on as many Windows systems as possible.

However, as someone else said, no-one is going to use MSN messenger if they have to pay for it and I can't see much of a market for their MSN subscription service. It would be nice from Microsoft's point of view to get some earnings from it but, at the end of the day, that's unlikely to happen but they are still content on getting their programs used by as many people as possible. They would like the MSN messenger standard to become THE standard, not for people to use AOL or Yahoo. This may then also entice people onto profitable software, such as Office or Vitual PC (although, this is Microsoft software - probably not!) You are probably right. At least, I hope that you are. My previous posts were not about what will happen, but about what Microsoft is doing and hopes to happen as a result. With MSN, Microsoft got into the online subscriber service market late, and has been pushing it ever since. Despite massive losses, it keeps trying to find ways to turn that turkey into a swan. Microsoft is now trying to leverage MSN Messenger into new paying subscribers for MSN.

[damson34]

even if Microsoft (for windows) adds MSN Messenger to MSN subscription services and makes you pay for it there will always be Windows Messeneger as well.

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by damson34
even if Microsoft (for windows) adds MSN Messenger to MSN subscription services and makes you pay for it there will always be Windows Messeneger as well. And you know this how?

[damson34]

cuz there has been for a few years now.

[kiwi_the_iwik]

Well - the REAL answer would be if Apple made iChatAV available to PC users - aka. iTunes-style...


...THEN MicroShaft would completely defecate themselves.

:p

[kjdenison]

if apple released ichat for windows, it would be updated at the same time the mac versions are updated, becuase they want to have the latest features available to everyone, but with windows having msn on mac it is extremely outdated and makes me and many users think less of the product. Strange.

Kurt
www.kurtdenison.com

[kiwi_the_iwik]

But if Apple WERE to release iChatAV for Windows, it would be the ONLY affordable cross-platform video conferencing solution available to the masses - and would herald a new era of true compatibility. That's what is needed...

The problems associated with fulfilling the various codecs and protocols that plague other communications programs will be a thing of the past, and Apple once more will rule the roost.

I certainly hope that's what they're doing - although I can't sway my dumb brother into buying a Mac, at the very least, I'd like to have the option to tell it to his face (even though he DOES live 12 thousand miles away...).

:D

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Man, all this stuff about msn charging for the use of messenger really stinks. I certainly would never pay for that, even if there weren't free alternatives.
In the mean time, I just got Fire after reading about it in this thread. Took a bit of getting used to, but now i love it. Its like the trillian for mac, in that you can connect to a bunch of services, aol, yahoo, icq...
i only use it for msn, but i still like it a lot better than messenger, its a lot more customizable. The most important thing for me is being able to change those freakin annoying sounds that messenger doesn't let you change anymore. This thing lets you choose any sounds on your system, i like keeping em soft and subtle, no f---ing xylophones and bass drums. as i spend a good chunk of my time doing homework while online, this is very important in determining how distracted i become. (i know i can just turn the sound off, but i like knowing when people are talking to me...). You can even make it so that certain contacts have their own specific notification things and so forth.

Its also cool to have the whole brushed metal osx look going, now i cant tell any of my damn windows appart, i love it, hahaha.

My only complaint is that the screen names don't seem to update, which is a problem since my friends often insult me through their names, and i gotta keep on top of these things.

Here's the link at cnet
http://download.com.com/3000-2146-10235475.html?tag=lst-0-1