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(6 replies) #1 Posted by Foub on 16 Oct 2004 - 11:46

Why buy emoticons, backgrounds, and display pictures from Microsoft when you can literally get millions of them for free? Places like www.mess.be have 10's of thousand alone to offer.

If Microsoft starts charging people will only move to another IM that is free to use all of it. Dumb idea Microsoft, as usual.

#1.1 Posted by Ramses on 16 Oct 2004 - 11:54

Then tell me my dear boy, how do you integrate them in messenger after you have downloaded them?

How can I change my messenger so that when I type (cloud), a picture of a cloud is inserted (where cloud is the name of the picture I downloaded)

#1.2 Posted by Varsity on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:01

Emoticons > My Custom Emoticons

#1.3 Posted by Ramses on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:17

Thanks!

#1.4 Posted by SaLiVa on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:37

hehe Varsity, I find
My Custom Emoticons > Default Emoticons

#1.5 Posted by CubanPete on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:25

I agree, ms have a very large market share with msn messenger, and i have a feeling adding this feature will definetly stop that!

I see a good opertunity for google to get their IM out if ms do go ahead with this!

#1.6 Posted by shao on 18 Oct 2004 - 01:27

you know what kids are like with mobile phones!! new ring tones, new wallpapers, gotta have em all.. it's the pokémon mentality. Personally i think it's a pretty smart move of ms to tap into this market, as long as it doesn't make the product as unusable and as annoying as watching mtv is these days, with their club 8181 adverts all the ****ing time.. and of course, as long as those of us with more sense than credit on our phones will still be able to add our own custom emoticons in for free.

anyone wanna wager how long it'll take yahoo to have the same functionality?

#2 Posted by TranceSphere on 16 Oct 2004 - 11:47

(1 reply) #3 Posted by Barisko on 16 Oct 2004 - 11:49

I agree, i don't get these payed emonicons etc.

#3.1 Posted by XP-RTM on 16 Oct 2004 - 21:48

THe final version will suck, you have to pay for video conference i think... Yahoo! here i come

(13 replies) #4 Posted by divertom15 on 16 Oct 2004 - 11:50

dont complain cus its the same thing aol is doing and i havent seen neowin complain about aol so untill then this needs to be removed

#4.1 Posted by cheesegoduk on 16 Oct 2004 - 13:17

yes but about 4 people use AIM

#4.2 Posted by kitchenutensils on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:02

we live in the UK; but i know thats completely different in the US

#4.3 Posted by jagedEdge on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:05

Ahah, foolish little Cheesey boy. Last I checked, AIM was still more popular than MSN. As a matter of fact, I still prefer the AIM service to MSN. Less downtime, better client support, etc.

#4.4 Posted by plati on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:31

Of course, msn went down last week for about 3 hours, thats the first time its been down for about 8months

#4.5 Posted by Moe Szyslak on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:49

Yea but AIM is from AOL and AOL is full of kiddies who just say LOL and DUNNO all bloody day in chat rooms.

#4.6 Posted by nX07 on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:16

OMG Hahaha thats so true man! (Moe Szyslak)

#4.7 Posted by AJCrowley Esq on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:11

QUOTE

Ahah, foolish little Cheesey boy. Last I checked, AIM was still more popular than MSN. As a matter of fact, I still prefer the AIM service to MSN. Less downtime, better client support, etc.

Actually I have my doubts. You see, AOL takes EVERY single AOL user name, which includes AOL ISP accounts, forums which use the AOL login (such as EA tech support), and if you have one of these logins, you "automatically" have an AIM account. This being the case, there are literally millions of AIM accounts owned by people that have never so much as considered downloading their second rate messenger. It's pretty tricky to get an accurate fix on how many people actually USE AIM when they pull an Enron on their user figures.

That said, a great deal of my friends use IM programs, none use AIM. I have a number of friends on the internet, all use ICQ or MSN, none use AIM. I am a college teacher, I see about 30 students go through my classroom in a month, all seem to take more interest in pissing around with MSN, ICQ and even Yahoo than actually paying attention, but I've yet to see one using AIM.

So, of the thousands of internet savvy people I know or have known, approximately 0% of them use AIM. If we use the "gallup" method (the ones who predict the results of the US elections), that means that nobody in the world has ever even contemplated using AIM, except you (+/- 5 mac users margin of error).

#4.8 Posted by antareus on 16 Oct 2004 - 17:30

Speak for yourself. IM network popularity is largely a function of region. Around here in Northern Virginia, most everyone uses AIM. When I went to school at VT, AIM dominated there as well.

#4.9 Posted by Mav Phoenix on 16 Oct 2004 - 17:56

^Ditto.

#4.10 Posted by threedaysdwn on 16 Oct 2004 - 23:35

I think in the US AIM largely dominates. A very large percentage of those of us who use MSN Messenger also use AIM because that's what 90% of the people we talk to use.

#4.11 Posted by ibetheone on 16 Oct 2004 - 23:51

Thats because no one is smart enough to use any other im clients...another reason why so many kiddies use aim....its mostly because of there built in profiles n most of there friends use it so they have to use it too at least thats what I think..The more savy internet folk use msn/icq.....

#4.12 Posted by tapo on 17 Oct 2004 - 05:47

I've seen kiddies on MSN too, man, and ICQ.

I used to use ICQ, but my friends forced me into AIM. I never liked AIM as much, but ICQ continued to die a horrible death, so I had to switch. Most likely, people continuing to use ICQ are the ones who were simply never forced out of it.

By the way, the more savvy internet folk use Jabber, as I've been pimping in the rest of this thread.

#4.13 Posted by snippet1 on 18 Oct 2004 - 07:35

Here, EVERYONE uses MSN, almost exclusively. The majority of those who don't wouldn't have a clue to what IM even is!

#5 Posted by Xerxes on 16 Oct 2004 - 11:50

Oh well....long as they don't start charging for the actual use of the software they can do what they like

(3 replies) #6 Posted by Liaqat_ali on 16 Oct 2004 - 11:57

Well I guess google has to come for the rescue again, because Yahoo! will be following the same league.

#6.1 Posted by someguy123 on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:15

yah yah google messenger

#6.2 Posted by SaLiVa on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:44

That would be a good idea, and integrate it into G Mail - All chat sessions recorded into a special folder in G Mail, (Optional of course)

#6.3 Posted by Liaqat_ali on 16 Oct 2004 - 18:19

I like the sound of it.
What a swift Kick in the A S S for msn that would be.

(1 reply) #7 Posted by aleks on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:00

MSN Messenger will definitely be the next ICQ.. full of ads and bloat watch and seee....


MSN Messenger.. "What ad will pop up today?"

#7.1 Posted by EduardValencia on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:31

lol

(4 replies) #8 Posted by jwjw1 on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:12

this article just must be the posters 'opinion'...doing to back it up...or linked to any official MS Article about MSN Messengers Intent.....plus I see nothing wrong with this...either you interested in the products offered or not...nothing says if you don't buy it...MSN will be removed at next boot up....every business has ventures in order to generate revenue....someone will later have an venture into making a program to remove such items...just like the ads and tabs.

#8.1 Posted by Mr magoo on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:17

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=231026 : this isn't just "my opinion".

.... doesn't equal full stop; if you'd like me to treat your comments with respect then the least you could do is to form them with a decent bit of grammar and punctuation.

#8.2 Posted by jwjw1 on 16 Oct 2004 - 13:02

That link provides only that MSN needs help in providing test on a premium service...your wrote:

MSN Messenger presents a problem for Microsoft in that they need to find an effective way to commercialise the product. Adverts at the bottom of the main window are un-liked (and un-noticed) by users, and probably don’t see much revenue - <---that is a opinion....unless you have a official link from MS as to the real intent.

thanks for pointing out my punctuation errors...as i point out your opinion.

#8.3 Posted by Mr magoo on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:01

I dont see what your problem is - of course its my opinion. I've just written something, and you've come here to read what i've just written. Do you read news papers? Do you go to news sites? They get written by people, each with their own bias, each with there own twist on issues, each with their own perspective. I'm tired of members pointing out that the news team expresses an opinion - it's incredibally annoying.

#8.4 Posted by Caleb on 17 Oct 2004 - 15:18

then stop writing.

#9 Posted by GHL on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:24

i am on the msn beta list, so i shall see what comes as this gets bigger and bigger,
anyways i dont think we will have to pay for anything, because, emoticons? whoever gets them will give them out and they will loose thier worth, display pics? same.
ads? patches will fix them.

(4 replies) #10 Posted by Morpheous on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:36

ROFL

Microsoft are making so many bad moves recently, it's even funny.

As always there will be 'patches' and 'fixes' to allow free use- why even bother?
All charging will do is keep some crackers busy and piss legit users off- and drive them to ICQ.

#10.1 Posted by Ideas Man on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:43

QUOTE

All charging will do is keep some crackers busy and piss legit users off- and drive them to ICQ.

Don't count on it. I used to use ICQ, but ever since i saw MSN Messenger 1, i latched onto it, it was so much better than ICQ, I personally didn't like all the crap in ICQ, MSN was clean and easy to use (Still is IMHO), though I hope they don't get clouded by charging for everything, they don't need to.

#10.2 Posted by SaLiVa on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:46

I hated ICQ because of the annoying "Uh Oh" like as if your friends were going to say something bad or you said something bad to them... It was really annoying.

#10.3 Posted by sheer on 16 Oct 2004 - 13:32

Yes, it's SO hard to turn those sounds off in ICQs prefs...

Miranda > *

no spyware, not bloated, works with all protocols, no need for anyone to even think of using MSN/ICQ/AIM when Miranda handles all of them. And it's free.

#10.4 Posted by SaLiVa on 16 Oct 2004 - 13:48

Yup, it is I was lazy to switch em off, besides it was annoying and it came as default as well Not nice... MSN Works for me now. Alot easier on the ears

(2 replies) #11 Posted by cork1958 on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:44

Just my opinion, but ALL IM's suck and are very unsecure. Don't and won't use any of them, especially one's that I would have to pay for any part of or that put ads in them.

#11.1 Posted by SaLiVa on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:47

Everythings insecure if you dont know how to use it properly. Just so long as you monitor whats going on there wont be any attacks. Though Windows Messenger was a bad idea, you can uninstall it

#11.2 Posted by daPhoenix on 16 Oct 2004 - 13:36

Then setup your own IM system that employs SSL encryption (such as Jabber) and you can have your secure IM right there.

#12 Posted by matocaster on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:46

if theyre going to charge, that means there will haveto be a new OSX version soon

(2 replies) #13 Posted by Freudi on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:54

MS coops with Blue Mountain? Is that the same company which forced MS to skip the integrated SPAM filter in OE 5 Beta back in 1999? http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-513553.html

#13.1 Posted by ThunderRiver on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:14

Yeah surprise surprise.. BlueMountain sued Microsoft for that too.. How did foe become friends?

#13.2 Posted by dcook32p on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:06

Aw, you beat me to it! I'll post my link anyway:

http://www.dotcomeon.com/bluemountain.html

Does anyone else remember the Blue Mountain Virus Hoax, too?

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data...ta/bluemtn.html

Edit: Hyperlinked the URL text

(1 reply) #14 Posted by watcher95 on 16 Oct 2004 - 12:56

Also, looking at this beta, looks like they plan to start chargig for video also.

Quote from the beta page.

"Try New, Improved Video and Audio Conferencing

If you have a microphone and/or a camera, please try the following scenarios.

Video Conversation services are free through 11/11/04 for all beta testers."

#14.1 Posted by hax0red on 17 Oct 2004 - 00:47

they better not charge for video...imma gonna get angry otherwise

(1 reply) #15 Posted by elliot on 16 Oct 2004 - 13:35

I'd pay to remove all the damn bloat!

#15.1 Posted by BigCheese on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:47

why don't you just use windows messenger then?

#16 Posted by morficus on 16 Oct 2004 - 13:39

Damn MS..... I'm not gonna pay for a thing!!

pay to remove adds?? I'll just use Plus!

I can't belive that the dead e-card company (blue montain) is pushing this stuf.... this is just how there site lost popularity... they strated charging....

Bad move by MS.....

#17 Posted by sfamonkey on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:02

Aim first now msn
Hopfully google come out with an iming system then final people could use buddy icons without having to pay money and nothing other then some text ads.

(5 replies) #18 Posted by chacho on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:28

Anyone who buys emoticons deserves to have internet priveleges revoked and be shot.

waste of money.

#18.1 Posted by BigCheese on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:46

I agree. And why would people pay Microsoft to remove the banner ad when there are several free patches that remove it.

#18.2 Posted by daPhoenix on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:55

And what stops Microsoft from adding a CRC check for the upcoming MSN Messenger that prevents tampering with the files? No more 3rd party software to remove the banners.

#18.3 Posted by eSouL on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:16

People would then just tamper with the CRC checking algo. No big deal. Still able to remove banners

#18.4 Posted by daPhoenix on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:24

Not quite as easy as you'd think, they could always incorporate a login based file integrity checking based on the servers CRC string - much like most online roleplaying games do - any variation on the integrity of any of the files would prevent the user from logging in.

Would also be a good deterrent against possible virus infections of the executable.

#18.5 Posted by Colin-uk on 17 Oct 2004 - 17:55

you would still be able to hide the ads with plus tho, because plus! doesnt change or patch the executable so the CRC wouldnt change, plus! just hides the ad.

Go Plus!

#19 Posted by dmbandfan22 on 16 Oct 2004 - 14:52

It's time for yahoo.

(1 reply) #20 Posted by Turbonium on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:01

I wouldn't buy any of this extra crap MS is selling for MSN for even a cent. They can kiss my a**.

#20.1 Posted by theyarecomingforyou on 16 Oct 2004 - 20:00

Erm... what's your point? It is an extra service, a bit like the extended guarantee options at stores - most people skip them, but the occasional person likes the extras.

There are so many services that Microsoft offer that I don't want - extra storage for Hotmail, Windows Plus!, etc. If you don't want them then don't buy or subscribe to them, but there's no need to get annoyed about it.

(2 replies) #21 Posted by metz2000 on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:01

Wouldn't be nice ...

If an XUL extension was developed for Firefox, which was an instant message client in a sidebar / tab.

Now that would be cool. Any takers to start this development?

#21.1 Posted by Snowden on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:18

I thought about that the other day, it wold be a great idea... till then I go for GAIM.

#21.2 Posted by tapo on 17 Oct 2004 - 05:33

There is a Jabber client for Firefox/Mozilla called Jabberzilla: http://jabberzilla.mozdev.org

(3 replies) #22 Posted by CheeseCow on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:09

So, they give customers who want to the option to easily buy addons to MSN Messenger - I think it is a good move. If that can keep them away from charging for people using it, I'd say it is a good thing.

The best thing would be everybody moving over to the jabber protocol and someone creating a better Windows client for it.

#22.1 Posted by daPhoenix on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:25

www.miranda-im.org - Supports Jabber.

#22.2 Posted by antareus on 16 Oct 2004 - 17:32

Note the word 'better.'

#22.3 Posted by tapo on 17 Oct 2004 - 05:34

http://www.pandion.be

Best Jabber client I could find for Windows.

#23 Posted by nX07 on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:26

I hope we can still use other emotions/backgrounds downloaded free of charge. If they COMPLETELY disable it.. damn.. that would be a piss-off.

#24 Posted by webeagle12 on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:40

AOl IM, now MSN IM, and I wonna ask double u te ef??

#25 Posted by tahoma on 16 Oct 2004 - 15:47

emoticons are a waste of time anyway, and ahould be banned, as should html emails. miranda is the way to go

(1 reply) #26 Posted by Fragaday on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:03

So people keep all the free ones they already have, and just have the option to buy more? I don't really see any problerm, since its not like they're removing critical functionality. As for driving people to other IMs.... ordinary people won't even notice the option is there. The slight changes to the interface to accomodate the premium stuff are tiny, anyway. Unless you go looking, you won't see.

#26.1 Posted by Snowden on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:25

Good points, however, more functionality sometimes means less security. More importantly though is to avoid the overloaded look of ICQ, and for that reason minimalistic designs like that of gaim or miranda attract a certain amount of people.

#27 Posted by Porp on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:15

You guys, if you dont want the Pay Emoticons just download some Free Emoticons. If you dont want a Pay Display Picture, then dont pay. It's like AIM Expressions, don't use them if you don't want to.. I personally will use Deluxe Display Pictures (Like AIM SuperBuddy's)

(1 reply) #28 Posted by MrXBob on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:33

Come on guys - this is NOT news. Anyone who uses MSN already will see that the bar own the left hand side (if you have it shown) already has different boxes where you can purchase emoticons, "mini-me" avatar pictures and the like. This isnt new, it isnt only in the next version of MSN, and it's not news at all. it's always been happening, and nobody buys them anyway. Nobody with at least a tiny bit of IT skill, anyway. It's too easy to get any picture from the net and make it an avatar/background/emoticon. And even if you cant make your own, you can get millions of them ready-made for free from places like mess.be (like has already been said)

So quit whining.

#28.1 Posted by snake-eyes on 16 Oct 2004 - 19:26

If people on here quit whining, the site traffic would drop to about a 10th of what it is now. Don't hold your breath.

#29 Posted by Abz2k4 on 16 Oct 2004 - 16:50

Microsoft are starting to charge us for everything... in future versions of MSN were going to have to pay to view webcam sessions...

#30 Posted by slimy on 16 Oct 2004 - 17:04

pathetic, microsoft, u can do better

#31 Posted by nivek7 on 16 Oct 2004 - 17:13

I'm not going to pay for this...

#32 Posted by Flash on 16 Oct 2004 - 17:35

There's icq lite fora reason and if you don't like the ads, you can remove them

#33 Posted by GatorV on 16 Oct 2004 - 19:00

hugs Gaim

#34 Posted by Dane2003 on 16 Oct 2004 - 20:27

I want my Google IM please, none of this bloat that Microsoft is including. Whoever pays for that crap should really be hurt .

#35 Posted by oik on 16 Oct 2004 - 20:32

wait up... microsoft is going to charge people's cell phones? for a teenager with a cell phone, and mommy and daddy paying the bill, somebody is going to be angry. this is the dumbest idea i've ever heard of, and it's no surprise microsoft is behind it. there's a reason companies require you to pay by credit card, and this is it

#36 Posted by allfive6 on 16 Oct 2004 - 21:10

all about the $$$

#37 Posted by doubledragonxz on 16 Oct 2004 - 21:38

Pay if we can get them for free?

#38 Posted by aem4162 on 16 Oct 2004 - 21:45

i'm happy as long as msn messenger as we know it is free

#39 Posted by )(RockerBoy on 16 Oct 2004 - 22:27

#40 Posted by andychien2004 on 16 Oct 2004 - 22:36

All I can is wrong move Microsoft

#41 Posted by MegaManXcalibur on 16 Oct 2004 - 23:19

This is why I'm glad I got Gaim (although Trillian will server the same function). When IM messengers start pulling this "pay for everything" service I don't have to make any worries since when all my friends change to a free messenger I don't have to do anything more then simplay add them to my buddy list again. And when all of them go to pay "pay for everything" service it works perfectly with Jabber which isn't controled by a corperation.

This is just another way for a company to milk money from a previously free program. The only thing this accomplishes is people switching to something free (since people never had to pay for add ons for their IM clients nobody is going to be willing to jump on the idea anytime soon).

#42 Posted by MegaManXcalibur on 16 Oct 2004 - 23:20

*Sorry double posted*

#43 Posted by bucko on 16 Oct 2004 - 23:43

, trillian

#44 Posted by cannhawk on 17 Oct 2004 - 00:10

Just wait microsoft will be going to pay to use on all there software

(1 reply) #45 Posted by hax0red on 17 Oct 2004 - 01:02

I dont understand why MS wants to charge users for already free services. Its not like they dont have any money

And if they charge people for services, even if they may be mostly useless like emoticons, wouldnt the people who are used to them just switch over to another client?

#45.1 Posted by cashman on 17 Oct 2004 - 01:43

Most users don't have a clue what other clients there are, then there are people who cant be bothered with the hassle of changing over and adding a load of contacts, some of which wont use the alternative client.

Im not for pay services but I think people should wait to see what these services are before people get annoyed, but as said before, the ability to cam should be standard deffinately, or i will go back to windows messenger

(2 replies) #46 Posted by Raa on 17 Oct 2004 - 02:30

Sure i'll pay to remove the ads...... NOT!

Rock On MSN Plus! FREE ad removal for me

#46.1 Posted by petroid on 17 Oct 2004 - 03:05

Exactly! 'Sif anyone would pay for ad removal when you can get a free addon with many more features to do it. And failing that, theres always a hex editor. Don't like hex? Chances are someone has made an ad patcher then . So I guess they'd