Windows Live Messenger to be shut down.

12 posts / 0 new

Sun, 01/20/2013 - 06:08

carnatic

Just in case you haven't heard the news, Microsoft are to shut down Windows Live Messenger. This will start to happen around mid-march.

For most people the closing down of an IM client is of little consequence, it is a dinosaur long ago replaced as a means of communication with the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Skype (which Microsoft owns and plans to replace WLM directly with).

However as a community we are still big users of IM chat and the closing of a major service is worrying. What if others follow suit, the alternatives mentioned above aren't as perfect for our needs as simple old IM, though Skype can be used just as an IM if you want. I don't particularly want to create a Facebook profile for inflation. Facebook is far to good at finding out who your real friends are and directing them towards you.

I think however that we can see this as an opportunity. We currently use mainly YIM, WLIM and AIM for our chatting needs, and this is a chance for us to move more toward using a single client. YIM is the most popular so I would recommend anyone who uses WLIM for their inflation needs and doesn't already have one, create a profile on YIM. Then communicate what your YIM profile is to your WLIM friends.

If you're having difficulty getting in touch with them then I propose people use this thread to announce which WLIM user name is to be replaced by which YIM one. I'll start.

My WLIM profile is carnatichall@hotmail.com you can get to me on YIM at bloatify.

Tue, 01/22/2013 - 02:27

darth_clone19

I actually have a facebook inflation page, but since I never used the email associated with it with people I know directly, I think Im good (plus, I dont really use it).

Dont really use YIM either but I guess this will be a good time to start using it. Will post my name there when I look it up because I forgot.

- Read my stories: darth-clone19.deviantart.com

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 18:50

Delacroix

Got the official e-mail today, should be interesting.

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 01:30

nineteenthly

Is there a reason Skype is unsuitable? You don't have to use it with a camera or microphone and it has its own text-based chat system. Won't Microsoft just transfer all the accounts to it?

http://www.youtube.com/user/nineteenthly

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 06:59

carnatic

The chat function is a bit basic with Skype at the moment, not many smartphone client apps about for it. Maybe this will change, but it would still be nice to only have one IM client to think about.

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 08:53

slayer

I am glad MSN is going down the drain. Hotmail is in the stone age and needs to disappear. A while a go I tried to log onto my MSN, and got this message: "Your account has been tried accessed from another computer" (or something like that). Duh, yes I have two computers at home and yes sometimes I log on from different places. Then I needed to do all kinds of shit to get it to work. I spent over one hour trying to figure it out, and it didn't work. After one hour I thought.....do I need hotmail? No, I got gmail. Do you chat much on msn? No, I chat mostly with gmail's in-chat system.

Get gmail and get rid of your third world problem

Hi my name is Tom. I run the inflatable chicks yahoo group

Wed, 01/30/2013 - 16:59

(Reply to #6) #7

carnatic

How much Google paying you? :P

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 22:21

Thoron

I use Pidgin to IM with friends who use MSN, I wonder what this switch is going to do with that. I refused to install WLM simply cause I didn't want Essensials touching my computer.

Mon, 01/28/2013 - 01:58

nineteenthly

Sometimes beggars can't be choosers with that kind of thing but i agree in general. An example: AVIDemux won't work properly with the codec on my camera so i use Windows Movie Maker - can't even afford Sony Vegas and Cinelerra does my head in. I never RP so i'm sure i don't appreciate the problems people would encounter with that. With Skype, it would be a problem on the PC because for some reason it refuses to route the audio through the headphones and always uses the main speakers. It seems to me that the central need is to have a way of interacting where all the visuals and audio are only accessible to the user, so a PC is not ideal because the display is potentially visible to others, and an application which won't use anything but the main speakers is a big problem if you want audio. This display faces only me right now, plus the wall behind me.

What am i saying? I suppose: you need a way of interacting which respects your privacy.

http://www.youtube.com/user/nineteenthly

Mon, 01/28/2013 - 21:10

(Reply to #8) #10

doubleintegral

With respect, I think you've got something connected wrong with your computer and speakers. That, or I have a poor understanding of your issues with Skype.

You shouldn't have to "tell" Skype to use headphones. If you've got speakers plugged in and then you plug in headphones, the PC should route all audio through the headphones. That happens upstream of Skype or any application.

Stories I have written

Tue, 01/29/2013 - 23:37

(Reply to #9) #11

lillyjade

Actually, I've had a lot of trouble with the same thing myself, on both Dell laptops I have access to. It's like the sound card uses different sound settings for different software, and yes, that includes Skype routing to the speakers even if the headphones are in. These newfangled sound cards, I swear...

Tue, 01/29/2013 - 01:53

#12

nineteenthly

I'm sure it's something i could get sorted but it is an issue with Skype because it only happens with Skype. No other applications have that issue apart from Audacity, and in that case i know why that is and can sort it. However, as i say, i never RP and i use Skype mainly for tutoring, so i'm not motivated to address it. I have to leap around the room a lot when i'm teaching, so headphones would not be an asset.

I suppose i could use Skype to teach people inflation! That would be a very weird thing to do though, and again i'd have to do it without headphones. It would also seem to require a degree of privacy entirely unavailable to me. Hmm, now there's a thought. On the tablet maybe?

http://www.youtube.com/user/nineteenthly

Windows Live Messenger to be shut down.

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