MSN beta needs Windows 7 or Vista? Shove it Microsoft.
Sometime in the 1990s the internet suddenly became useful as people gained the ability to ‘message’ eachother in real time. This was particularly useful in Australia where SMS charges were still priced around the complete and utter ripoff mark.
The dominant messenger program of choice was ICQ and such was the influence this software had on my teenage years that to this day I can still remember my ICQ number.
As Generation X gave way to Generation Y however a disturbing trend emerged whereas due to it being bundled with Microsoft Windows, MSN began making inroads as the messenger of choice.
Initially this threat was scoffed off by us messaging pioneers, I mean the only people that used MSN at the time were annoying teenagers and MySpace retards. This however was still an age of an emerging market yet to explode and sadly, eventually it did.
When the dust settled it was clear MSN was to become the social messaging service of choice. Diehards like myself were forced to switch over as by early 2000 there was a whole generation of internet users who’d never even heard of ICQ.
I don’t ever regret switching over to MSN but I’ve never really felt perfectly comfortable using it. Whilst ICQ was ‘cool’ and innovative, MSN always felt like it was a bloated “me too” cousin that lagged behind.
Fast forward to 2010 however and MSN (or Windows Live Messenger or whatever Microsoft are calling it) is the only messaging software that I’ve got installed on my Eee PC. Infact it’s been the only messaging software that I’ve used for some time.
Kind of hard not to when girls these days often skip your phone number and go straight for ‘so… do you have msn?’
A few days ago I noticed a Windows Live Messenger alert pop up for a new beta version. Because MSN isn’t really updated with any kind of frequency (I can’t even remember the last update) I clicked on the box and a flashy new website loaded up, “Windows Live Messenger Beta’.
The landing page contained your usual sales spiel telling everyone how MSN cures cancer, solves world peace and protects the environment but then at the bottom of the spiel is your real kick in the nuts.
Messenger combines the best IM with social networking, so you stay connected with the people who matter most. Share photos and videos in real time while you chat. Express yourself with 3D emoticons. Stay on top of what your friends are doing across social networking sites, right in Messenger.
Messenger beta requires Windows 7 or Windows Vista, and is part of Windows Live Essentials beta.
I knew Vista was a bloated piece of garbage but I wasn’t even aware that Windows 7 was out yet. Not that I’d been keeping tabs on it but have we really come that far from good ol’ Windows XP.
My Asus Eee PC shipped with XP and I seriously doubt it’s even capable of running Vista or Windows 7. Besides, why the crap would I want to?
XP is hands down the best Windows ever put out and serves my needs perfectly. With the default cutesy theme crap turned off and the taskbar and sidemenus all reverted back to Windows 95 style it’s simply the most functional OS out there.
I’m not entirely sure if it’s just going to be this new MSN beta that requires Windows 7 or Vista or if the final version, whenever it’s released, will also require the newer operating systems to operate.
Either way I’m not upgrading and if Microsoft thinks a new version of MSN that’s incompatible with XP is going to make me they can blow it out their arse.
Seriously, what moron decided to restrict MSN to Windows 7 or Vista? That’s like restricting Facebook to Internet Explorer or some crap.
Marketing suicide guys… wake up.
July 16th, 2010 at 7:14 am Harry(Quote)
There is a slight chance that in order to get some new features in to MSN they had to kick the XP users as the the source code does not support it.
OR
Microsoft wants more people to buy Windows 7.
I’d bet on the latter.
Anyway, most reasonably new netbooks are capable of running windows 7. I know mine does. Just turn off all the pretty stuff and it’ll run fine.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:24 am Neil(Quote)
Uh.. Windows 7 came out last year and is actually a huge improvement over Vista and XP.
It’s beta meaning, it’s in the testing stages so it’s possible that they may add XP support later on down the track (or not). Given that the old versions work just fine why not just stay with them. I would guess that enabling 3D emoticons has to do with Vista and 7′s increased ability to handle 3D effects natively in the OS.
Better off using IM programs such as Trillian or Pidgin that support multiple services and offer much more than native clients (admittedly not 3d emoticons. MSN may dominate Australia but you’ll find that Skype (in Europe), AIM (in the US), and ICQ dominate in different geographic areas. I think Skype will probably dominate in the next couple of years as IPhone users flock to it.
Oh and btw, try going to Youtube using an old version of IE and see what happens.
July 16th, 2010 at 1:32 pm Suzie(Quote)
I got Vista with my new computer with a free upgrade to Win 7, I never took it up as I’m happy with Vista and I didn’t want to go through teething problems twice in three months.
I much prefer Pidgin. Messenger wouldn’t connect me with my sister while Pidgin does. It doesn’t have all the snazzy things the new Messenger does, but it does the job without fuss.
July 16th, 2010 at 1:49 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
@Harry
Trouble is getting it on here. Backing up and re-installing an OS is a major pain on a Eee PC without a dvd/cd drive. If I want to backup something it’s got to be stored online or whacked onto a thumbdrive, let alone everything major for a new OS install.
Then there’s the issue of installing it. I’ve always wondered what use is my XP product key underneath my Eee PC if I’ve got no way of installing XP myself (well that I know of). I think I’d have to buy an external USB DVD drive to install a new OS and even then I’m not sure I could boot off it.
In short, my1000HE came with XP and upgrading it to anything else sounds like a major pain in the arse. For messaging software it’s just not gunna happen.
@Neil
Lol last year, shows how much I’ve been paying attention.
That’ll probably be what winds up happening, I just won’t upgrade. Seems a bit rich for Microsoft to ditch an entire OS over 3d emoticon support. I mean what there’s probably still more PC’s running XP then Vista and Windows 7 combined still?
I’ve tried multi messenging programs in the past but didn’t really fancy them. I prefer to keep it simple and just use a single messenging network.
I agree with different geographical areas using different software. I remember back when I was online gaming all the Americans used AIM, living in Australia I’d never heard of it because nobody used it.
I agree skype will probably become more dominant but they really need to develop the IM side of things first. At the moment it works fine but it’s like having a text conversation through skype and that’s all you can do, as opposed to just being lightweight and something you can do while you’re doing other things.
By the way, where is ICQ dominating? I’d love to give them a tip of my hat for resisting the MSN generation Y scourge.
@Suzie
You’re not missing much. Apart from the weird random smileys a lot of the girls here seem to love to use there isn’t much else to do with messaging software other then to communicate. Text is text is text
.
July 16th, 2010 at 8:01 pm Steve(Quote)
You might be forced to use something like Pidgin eventually.
Last time I tried running Windows Live Messenger it politely informed me there was a new version out, no no, sorry, I’m not going to let you login with this older version. Upgrade or fuck off.
I fucked off.
July 17th, 2010 at 12:20 am bushrat(Quote)
This is an ongoing problem with ALL technology, from toasters and computers to mobile phones. For years I swore I would never go past Win 95 – I never had any trouble with it, and was doing fairly intense graphic design at the time.
Then my laser printer shit itself. Simple says the Rat, go buy a new one. NAAHH! Nothing has drivers for 95 (unless you want it to work as a generic printer at lower res – not so good for artwork. So, I was forced into upgrading to XP – no problem it works well, and you need it for wireless broadband anyway as 95/98 wont run them.
Then there is the saga of mobile phones. Now me, I’m just an old school rat with a bad attitude, I just want to be able to RING PEOPLE or occasionally send a TEXT MESSAGE if I dont particularly want to talk to the person.
Thats IT, I dont NEED anything else. So my old Nokia finally went belly up after 10 years of faithful service, which included being dropped 20 metres down an opal mine shaft, being run over a few times, dropped into the dunny, and a bucket of sump oil as well!
My son keeps saying “Dad, ya need to get a new phone, they are really good now, they can send emails, browse the net, make a roast chook dinner, and perform fellatio!”
But I dont want all that, I patiently explain, I just want a PHONE (this from a bloke who has had at least five of these new fangled phones die without reason in as many years)
So in a way, all the technology is related, they (big business) tell you what you want, and thats what you get sold. Forced into changing to the latest and greatest all the time, even if you are happy with what you are using.
Then making stuff with buttons so small that you would need fingers like a mouses dick to use it! Crap to them all I say, a veritable pox on those who do these things because they CAN, before considering whether they SHOULD!
Life was much simpler when I lived in the back of my FJ and rang my girlfriend from a pay phone…………..
July 17th, 2010 at 1:48 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Mobile phones I can understand (although my N95 is still going strong 4/5 years later), but toasters lol? How does big business force you to upgrade your toaster?!
July 18th, 2010 at 11:40 am Elbogrease(Quote)
Ah ICQ was excellent. I also used a great little program called Roger Wilco to chat to mates long before Skype was ever dreamed up.
July 18th, 2010 at 7:09 pm bushrat(Quote)
Because, old mate, in most of the toasters now there is a itsy-bitsy microchip that controls the timer. In most cases these fail just after the warranty period, and of course are not woth repairing, so…………
It’s called “planned obselescence”
You would be surprised at some of the stuff that now has micro-chips in it. Next time something shits itself, before you turf it, get the 4 pound hammer and “gently” pull it apart, and odds are you will find a little chip there somewhere.
A good case in point is inkjet printer cartridges – they got shitty about us plebs being able to refill them at a fraction of the outragous price they charge for new cartridges, so they put chips on the tanks. Once the ink drops below a certain point, even if you refill the cratridges, they will not work, particularly HP printers, which hold the serial number of the cartridge in the printers buffer memory (another wee chip).
They (HP) hold I think three numbers in this memory at a time, so you would need to be cycling four or five cartridges through to “bump” the first number out of memory.
With Canon, it just disables the ink guage, and gives you a snotty message, but is still usable.
Yep, all this crap was supposed to make our lives easier, however, I think NOT!
July 20th, 2010 at 1:26 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Ah Roger Wilco that brings up memories! I vaguely remember using that to set up Quake 2 matches back in the day lol.
July 20th, 2010 at 1:28 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Microchips in toasters? Jesus Christ… not that toast is big in Taiwan but back home I think I’d stick with my $10 You’ll Love Coles toaster. Surely that still runs on the old thermostat/timer tech that’s pretty failproof.
When my toaster is one of the most electronically complex pieces of equipment in my kitchen something has gone horribly wrong.
I’ve had some experience with the printer cartridge problem although didn’t know it’d gotten to the ‘compltely disable the cartridge’ stage. From memory the printer never escalated us using refills beyond whinging at us that the ‘cartridge was not a genuine HP product’ on it’s LCD display.
Like we gave a shit…
For the cost of genuine HP cartridges I’m surprised anyone at HP thought we’d give a shit.
July 28th, 2010 at 8:25 pm Caffeinated SentryGnome(Quote)
you would be surprised how many people the “this is not genuine” message works on. yes we think yeah what ever i don’t care. but some people think when they see that it means ‘if you don’t use the right genuine I’ll burn your house down and kill your pets and your neighbors pets too.’ or ‘if you use the cheap stuff you’ll ruin you $49 printer’ which brings us to the point of why don’t you just buy a new printer.
windows 7 can be installed via a USB thumb drive.
WTF is with girls and those stupid letter changing things in msn. all it does is make it hard to read and label you a bimbo retard.
July 29th, 2010 at 2:28 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
This is one of the greatest tricks of the printer industry. Selling dirt cheap printers and then tiny cartridges for them at 70-80% of the cost of the printer itself. Love it.
I haven’t bought a printer in a while but when I do I hardly pay attention to the specs of the printer itself, I always look at the refills. Best way to judge whether or not your buying a blatant money spinner for the company or an actual decent printer in my opinion.
Been a while since I’ve installed Windows but can you boot a PC (specifically an Eee PC) off a USB port? Specifically so that it autoloads installation on boot startup?
One of the things I’ve been worried about in the back of my mind is if Windows ever crashed on my Eee PC. I’d have no idea how to fix it without a dvd rom drive. Probably something I should do a little research into as it’s bound to happen at sometime I imagine.
Lol I thought this culture was bad enough back home but it’s absolutely huge in Taiwan. Coupled with long messages in Chinese mandarin the capital letter, small letter, capital letter thing makes me want to blow my brains out.
Thank christ for editable nicknames.
July 29th, 2010 at 3:11 pm Caffeinated SentryGnome(Quote)
Yes you can boot from usb. Most PCs now days let you. IIRC you can download something from Microsoft to install win7 from USB. As for eee pc I couldn’t boot from USB on my eee pc 701 but I could boot from a SD card and that’s how I installed Ubuntu Netbook remix on it.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:44 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Hmm SD card hey. Between that and USB I’m not sure I even really want windows 7. Xp is hardly broken and does the job fine. Guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it
(I know, I know, that means my laptop will crash and suffer irrepairable damage in the next ten minutes).