MSN Photo no longer a freebie

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Attention MSN Photo users: You have two weeks to subscribe to MSN 8 or download your photos if you don't want to lose them.

On May 22, MSN is planning to offer its photo service only to subscribers of MSN 8, an Internet service that bundles online services such as e-mail and instant messaging with dial-up access for $21.95 per month. Currently people do not have to pay to store photos with MSN Photo.

The move is the latest effort by MSN to turn formerly free services into paid ones. MSN already has started to charge for some services that used to be free, including extra storage in Hotmail in-boxes. In an attempt to get more paying customers, Microsoft has said it intends make other services exclusive to MSN 8 subscribers.

"It sounds like sort of a continuation of a trend we're seeing, which is to make MSN into a break-even business if not a profitable one," Matt Rosoff, industry analyst with Directions On Microsoft. "It just shows that they are under some pressure from the rest of the company to turn the corner and make some money."

A representative of MSN said the company decided to start offering photo storage only to MSN 8 users because the free service was turning into a drain on resources. Many photo users would upload their photos, but then wouldn't come back to update their photo collection or buy prints and other services. "It's taking up a lot of storage and costing a lot of money," the MSN representative said.

News source: news.com

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#1 andrewfee on 06 May 2003 - 19:36

Too bad msn photos suck anyway (and I have msn8 :p)

(6 replies) #2 longwilli on 06 May 2003 - 19:41

lol dont use msn 8 mainly due to it being a pile of sh*t, but microsoft are really getting on my nerves recently you have to pay to use msn, pay for more storage on hotmail when you only need more storage couse a bunch of c*nts spam you all day. Plus thanks to ms toliet you now have to pay to s**t. But hey like anyone pays for most of there software now days. deep breath

.... and i'm spent

#2.1 andrewfee on 06 May 2003 - 19:52

[neoquote=#2.0 by longwilli]lol dont use msn 8 mainly due to it being a pile of sh*t, but microsoft are really getting on my nerves recently you have to pay to use msn, pay for more storage on hotmail when you only need more storage couse a bunch of c*nts spam you all day. Plus thanks to ms toliet you now have to pay to s**t. But hey like anyone pays for most of there software now days. deep breath

[/neoquote] Funny, I rarely get any spam at all since I got MSN8... And the dashboard is actually really convenient, the only annoying thing is that it integrates with MSN Messenger only, and not Windows Messenger, so I have to have both installed (some MSN features don't work if you don't have Windows Messenger installed)

#2.2 longwilli on 06 May 2003 - 21:29

this is what i mean you have to personnaly pay ms and the spam goes away, yet if you get extra storage or stick to the original 2 mg account its suddenly becomes inpossible to stop getting spam, in my opionion they are just taking advantage of the situation not actually try to prevent to from happening in the first place

#2.3 shockz on 07 May 2003 - 02:48

[neoquote=#2.2 by longwilli]this is what i mean you have to personnaly pay ms and the spam goes away, yet if you get extra storage or stick to the original 2 mg account its suddenly becomes inpossible to stop getting spam, in my opionion they are just taking advantage of the situation not actually try to prevent to from happening in the first place[/neoquote] Gotta love it when somebody has no idea what they are talking about.

#2.4 longwilli on 07 May 2003 - 14:12

yep i agree you clearly dont

#2.5 longwilli on 07 May 2003 - 14:12

msn free = spam pay = no spam it shouldn't be like this

#2.6 shockz on 07 May 2003 - 19:45

[neoquote=#2.5 by longwilli]msn free = spam pay = no spam it shouldn't be like this[/neoquote] Strange.... MSN Free Hotmail = No spam. Same with everything.

#3 Mr. Black on 06 May 2003 - 19:48

I don't use MSN photos, either, but Microsoft makes enough money as it is -- they can afford to have FREE services, and not even be remotely hurt. "Drain on Resources" -- sh1t, they have practically unlimited

(3 replies) #4 Trade Wind on 06 May 2003 - 20:21

With the business models some of you here offer up, your businesses would fail in a heartbeat. Yes, Microsoft has large amount of resources. Like any solvant company, each division, and groups within that division are given budgets. Without that kind of fiscal control, the whole thing will come down like a house of cards in a strong wind. MSN Photos as a storage service is going bye bye anyway later this fall in lieu of MSN Groups & MSN Storage. I'm always curious how C|Net is able to put up a personal story of someone affected by these stories. Singapore. lol MSN doesn't have subscription operations there yet, so countries like that are SOL. Go suck the money out of Yahoo! for us, please?

#4.1 longwilli on 06 May 2003 - 21:32

yahoo mail account is was v.good to my surprise, not one piece of junk mail in years and you get about 7mb

#4.2 shockz on 07 May 2003 - 02:50

[neoquote=#4.1 by longwilli]yahoo mail account is was v.good to my surprise, not one piece of junk mail in years and you get about 7mb[/neoquote] Ya. Yahoo is good. Hotmail is good too. Haven't ever got spam in hotmail either. MSN Accounts and Non-MSN hotmails accounts too. Either you give your address away to some spam collector and get flodded with spam (on any type - yahoo and Hotmail) or your smart and keep your address to friends and maybe a few places that you visit on the net that have good privacy policies. So its basically your own falut when you get flooded with spam.

#4.3 longwilli on 07 May 2003 - 14:14

no its itsnt, i advise you to go checkout the spam topic in the forum. i have had my account for years get flooded and its my fault come on, its thousands that have this problem.

Last edited by 17868 on 07 May 2003 - 14:20

(1 reply) #5 Spidoinkel on 06 May 2003 - 23:04

"MSN already has started to charge for some services that used to be free, including extra storage in Hotmail in-boxes." Hasnt extra storage always been a pay service?

#5.1 Zatko55 on 07 May 2003 - 12:48

Giving you something for free and then switching around to a pay service is always been a d|ck move. It's the "gotcha" sales strategy. Lure them with free then spring the trap. They should just make crap like this a pay service to begin with.

(1 reply) #6 kal-ky on 07 May 2003 - 09:14

Hahahahahahaha

This amuses me.

#6.1 JaggedFlame on 07 May 2003 - 12:07

Yeah, it would. When in actuality it's just a business operation designed to release strain on resources.

#7 vagari on 07 May 2003 - 12:58

Someting I've noticed is references to gettins MSN 8 only with dial-up access. I don't have it, but since I use Microsoft Money I thought about getting just an account. You can couple just the software and service with your regular internet access. ie if you have broadband or just another dial up provider. It's currently $9.95 a month. Does anyone out there use just the service stuff? I'm curious as to how it performs. [URL=http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/byoa&pgmarket=en-us&xAPID=990&DI=340&HL=HPQLMSN8Software]MSN Software[/URL]

(2 replies) #8 Glen on 07 May 2003 - 16:39

And so it begins.. I'm sure we'll see more of the free services switching to pay only in the near future. It wouldn't suprise me if the MSN groups also switched to MSN 8 subscribers only within a year. This happens with almost all software and services. Once their proven and have a userbase, they switch from free to pay. It's just another business model.

#8.1 longwilli on 07 May 2003 - 17:13

yep its a shame but it certainly looks that way

#8.2 kal-ky on 07 May 2003 - 20:25

I don't care, I dual boot and except for my copy of Windows 2000 it's Microsoft free. I have alternatives for browser, IM and I don't know else MS makes which work better.

#9 Chipi on 07 May 2003 - 19:35

I don't like MSN at all!

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