LiveSide - News blog : Messenger

How big is Windows Live Messenger worldwide? Really Big

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:58:00 GMT

In a press release issued today, comScore breaks down the time spent online globally by properties, with Microsoft sites leading the way with nearly 15 percent of all time spent online (out of some 27 billion hours per month!):

However in an interesting little sidelight, comScore reveals that “Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger representing nearly 70 percent of time spent on the property during the month”:

In September 2009, nearly 27 billion hours were spent on the Internet globally by a record online population of 1.2 billion Internet users age 15 and older. Microsoft Sites accounted for 14.5 percent of total minutes spent online in September, making it the most engaging global property, with Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger representing nearly 70 percent of time spent on the property during the month. Google Sites captured 9.3 percent of total minutes (2.5 billion hours), with YouTube accounting for nearly half of total time spent (1.2 billion hours) at the property. Yahoo! Sites ranked as the third most engaging Web property at 1.7 billion hours, followed by Facebook.com at 1.4 billion hours. Facebook’s share of attention reached 5.1 percent in September, an increase of 2.9 percentage points from the previous year, as its continued growth in popularity precipitated this surge in share.

So a little quick math, and 70% of 3,92 billion gives Windows Live Messenger some 2,744 billion hours of time spent online worldwide in a month: that’s more than all time spend online on Google, or Yahoo, or Facebook sites, wow!

For those of us in the US this may come as quite a surprise, as Messenger is not quite as popular as it is elsewhere, but looking at the comScore breakdown of numbers by region you can see where Microsoft (and Messenger) are most popular:

Of course these numbers do not reflect revenue generated, perhaps a far more important number than raw minutes, but we sometimes forget the vast global reach of Microsoft and Messenger online.

Upgrade From Windows Live Messenger 8.5

Sunshine — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:03:00 GMT

The Windows Live Messenger Team notifies Messenger users in a blogpost that the mandatory update for version 8.5, as announced back in August, has begun. Users on Windows XP will need to ensure that they have installed Service Pack 2 (SP2) or higher, otherwise the upgrade will not work.

Incase you have issues or questions during this upgrade process, the team provides the following resources:

Troubleshooting Login Issues
This post from the support team provides some guidance into how to determine what error you are getting and steps to resolve many of these.
Online Help
You can also try the online help pages. On the left hand side, you can select ‘Table of Contents’ (near the bottom) and get information on troubleshooting and error codes.
Contact the Support Team
If you have already tried the going through the online help suggestions and still having difficulties then you should consider contacting the Messenger support team and providing them with more information about the problems that you are encountering.

Users on Messenger 2009 (version 14) will have to upgrade too starting November 9th, unless they already installed the latest version (Build: 14.0.8089.726).

Wondering which version you have? You can find out by going to Help > About in the menu. Don’t want to wait? Go get the current version from http://download.live.com/messenger

BuddyFuse International Release: Enhance Windows Live Messenger With Google Talk, Twitter And Hyves

Sunshine — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:52:40 GMT

The first international version of BuddyFuse has been released.

BuddyFuse, created by Dutch Computer Science student Yousef El-Dardiry, Jeroen Bransen and friends, is a free extension for Windows Live Messenger, which seamlessly integrates chat and social networks into the world’s most widely used instant messaging client. BuddyFuse currently enhances Windows Live Messenger by adding support for Google Talk, Twitter and the Dutch social network Hyves.

Long time requested feature
By integrating third party chat and social networks into Windows Live Messenger, BuddyFuse turns one of the most frequently requested features of the chat program into reality. ‘The vast amount of chat and social networking services available today causes people to be ‘online’ on different services at different times. By adding interoperability to Windows Live Messenger people can use an application they are already familiar with to stay in touch with all their friends, regardless of the network they are on.’, says BuddyFuse cofounder Yousef El-Dardiry.

Successful try-out
BuddyFuse has been released to the Dutch public in April 2009, supporting only the Dutch social network Hyves. This beta version has been embraced by the community, with over ten thousand users in the first few weeks. ‘The overwhelming amount of enthusiastic responses motivated us to work on this international release’, says El-Dardiry.

Support for more services such as AIM, ICQ and Facebook is planned for future releases.

You can find the download and more information, including a video impression on the BuddyFuse Website: http://www.buddyfuse.com

Messenger users will need to upgrade to WLM 9 as of Sept. 15

Kip Kniskern — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:12:00 GMT

Back in August, the Windows Live Messenger team blog posted an announcement regarding a mandatory upgrade to version 14.0.8089, due to security issues. Beginning on August 25th, Messenger users on 8.1 or 8.5 were reminded to upgrade, but as of tomorrow, according to Jonathon Kay’s MessengerGeek blog, users who haven’t heeded the warnings will be forced to upgrade before they can log on.

In what Jonathon thinks is less than a coincidence, Messenger experienced trouble sending messages today, but as of around 3pm pst the service was back up running normally.

(edited to fix Jonathon's blog name, oops)

Upgrade your Windows Live Messenger service

damaster — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:12:00 GMT

From the Messenger team’s blog post today, Microsoft has announced that all users of Windows Live Messenger will be prompted to upgrade their client to the latest version (14.0.8089.726) in the following months, if not weeks, depending on your current client version:

Users currently using Windows Live Messenger 8.1 and 8.5 will be prompted to an optional upgrade starting August 25, 2009. Those who have not upgraded during this phase will receive a mandatory upgrade notice starting mid-September 2009.

Users currently using Windows Live Messenger 2009 (v14) will be prompted to an optional upgrade starting early October 2009. Those who have not upgraded will receive a mandatory upgrade notice starting late October 2009.

Users currently using MSN Messenger on Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, Windows Me or Windows 98 will not receive an upgrade notification.

Users are encouraged to upgrade their Messenger client now as those who do not administer the upgrade will not be able to sign in to Messenger after the mandatory upgrade phase. According to the blog post, the latest update provides minor code fixes, as well as addressing security vulnerabilities discussed in the Microsoft Security Advisory 973882. Those already using Windows Live Messenger 2009 (v14) will not notice any visible feature changes.

You can download the latest version of Messenger at http://download.live.com/messenger if you haven’t already done so!

Happy 10th Anniversary Windows Live Messenger

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:58:00 GMT

Just up on YouTube (where else?) is a fun little video in celebration of Windows Live (formerly MSN) Messenger’s 10th Anniversary.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

The Inside Windows Live Messenger blog has more on the anniversary celebration (and a post from last week quoting Sunshine and myself along with some of our Windows Live community colleagues on our use of Messenger, kind of fun (and yes the interviews were conducted on Messenger).

Messenger 10 Years - Share Your Favorite Personal Windows Live Messenger Story With The World!

Sunshine — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:05:33 GMT

It has been almost 10 years since Messenger was launched. Windows Live Messenger was still called MSN Messenger back then on July 22nd 1999. Since then Windows Live Messenger has grown quite a bit. It now has more than 330 million active users every month! Windows Live Messenger enabled friendships, changed lives and brought a lot of fun to a quick chat.

And it’s that that the Messenger team would love to hear about. Do you have a funny, unexpected or emotional story to tell? And above all don’t mind if your anecdote, with first name and country, gets published in Windows Live Messenger marketing or public relations communications? Then go ahead and send your short story to IloveMessenger@live.com by June 28th. You can also add a related photo if you like (might also get published). Don’t forget to add your first name and home country!

The best stories will be published on messengersays during the month of July!

Disclaimer:

By submitting your Messenger story and/or photo you agree that your entry only includes material that you own, or that you have permission from the copyright/trademark owner to use. By submitting your entry, you agree to allow your entry, in its entirety, to be exhibited on the internet and in other media, without compensation. You further agree to allow your first name, likeness and country to be used in connection with your entry, including exhibition on the internet or in other media, without compensation.

Why Windows Live Messenger Is Shut Off For Users In Countries Embargoed By The US

Sunshine — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:55:47 GMT

Last week we told you about Microsoft Shutting Off Windows Live Messenger IM For Users In Countries Embargoed By The US (Error 810003c1). We can tell you a little bit more about the “why” today.

Let’s take a look at what can, and can’t, be banned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a division of the Department of the Treasury. According to a lawyer who advises companies on OFAC compliance, offering communications services such as IM to sanctioned countries such as Iran or Cuba is not restricted by OFAC. Offering software however is. That's because software, even free apps downloadable from the Internet, are considered exportable goods, and thus can be banned by OFAC. The rules are fairly strict. "You can't even send a pen or pencil to people in those countries," he said.

So web-based services, like Windows Live Hotmail, or cloud-based services are fine, as long as they do not depend on a user download! Messenger requires a user download so yea, for that reason it’s not allowed. Not only does it rule out Windows Live Messenger, it rules out the entire Windows Live Essentials as well as other Microsoft offerings. We did not read anything about other services besides Windows Live Messenger being shut off though. By the way, Microsoft is not the only one banning IM access to U.S. enemy nations. Google Inc. and possibly AOL LLC have also cut access to their instant messaging services to citizens of countries deemed hostile to the United States. Whether Microsoft had been contacted by OFAC or voluntarily implemented the ban remains unknown.

The moves likely hurt not only local residents of those countries, but also overseas friends and relatives who rely on the IM and video chat provided by these services to stay in touch. How effective these measurements will be at preventing access remains to be seen too, as there are several workarounds available. But, as any company, Microsoft has to obey the law.

Via ComputerWorld

Microsoft Shuts Off Windows Live Messenger IM For Users In Countries Embargoed By The US (Error 810003c1) [Updated]

Sunshine — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:29:01 GMT

Users in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea can no longer IM with Windows Live Messenger.

When trying to log in they will be left with error message:
810003c1: We were unable to sign you in to the .NET Messenger Service.

Reason: Microsoft has shut off the Windows Live Messenger IM for users in the countries embargoed by the US, hence Microsoft no longer offers Windows Live Service in those countries.

Source: ~~Messenger Support Space - Error 810003c1~~

Edit: Looks like the Messenger Support space prefers to delete posts and write new instead of editing... The source article can now be found here.

The country names have been taken out and the reasoning has been reworded to:
“Microsoft has discontinued providing Instant Messenger services in certain countries subject to United States sanctions. Details of these sanctions are available from the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

To be honest we don’t understand why an embargo would lead to this (and why now?), it’s not like offering a free service (Worldwide) is doing business…or is it? And why not list the countries anymore…

BuddyFuse, Connecting The Social

Sunshine — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:29:00 GMT

BuddyFuse, created by Dutch Computer Science student and former Microsoft Intern Yousef El-Dardiry, Jeroen Bransen and friends, integrates third party (social / IM) networks into Windows Live Messenger. By doing this you can chat with your friends on those social networks from Windows Live Messenger, so no need to go to these networks anymore just for a chat. Currently it is available in beta, only supporting the Dutch social network Hyves. They do plan on integrating other social networks too, like Facebook, Google Talk (GMail chat) and Twitter. An International release is also planned for 2009.

Installation is simple, install BuddyFuse, then start Messenger. You will notice there’s an extra option in the login screen. Once logged in you can control your Hyves Accounts from the button it added next to the mail icon above the contact list:

When you’ve added your account, all your Hyves contacts will be loaded into your buddylist and you can chat away…

(Please visit the site to view this media)

This sure is a nice addition to Windows Live, like an extension to the new activities that are coming to home.live (also includes Hyves). Personally I can’t wait for them to integrate Facebook. How about you? Interested and want to keep informed on when an International version is released? Fill out this small form, and they’ll keep you posted (email). You can also follow them on Twitter.

More Windows Live Mobile Wave 3 Updates for Hotmail, Messenger and Home

damaster — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:17:49 GMT

Last time we told you about the new Windows Live Hotmail Mobile beta. Yesterday the team on Windows Live Wire announced that the new Windows Live Hotmail for mobile is now final! Together with the announcement, the team also mentioned the new updates for Windows Live Home Mobile and Messenger Mobile – finally including the new Wave 3 Mobile look for Messenger Mobile! Here’s what they announced:

Windows Live Messenger for mobile has a new look and feel and now links directly to Windows Live Home, so you can easily navigate between services.

Windows Live Home for mobile has an improved What’s new list, with ten items appearing in the list instead of five. You can also see the things your friends are doing online at places such as Twitter, WordPress, Flickr, and more. And you can always read the full text of your friends’ personal messages.

I just went to the Windows Live Messenger for Mobile website on http://mim.live.com and although I’m seeing the new pips (instead of the old buddy icons to display your contact’s status), ~~the overall theme hasn’t yet been updated to the new look~~. Update (April 23): The update has been fully released! What I really hope they’ve implemented is the support for multiple places sign-in, as currently it’s quite annoying that Messenger will sign you out as you’re logged in to the mobile web version. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Check out http://mhome.live.com on your mobile browser for the updated Windows Live Home for Mobile.

That “Important Service Announcement” from Msgr? Ignore it (doh)

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:36:00 GMT

Earlier today a number of Messenger users received an instant message from the Messenger Service staff:

Important service announcement: As part of a recent system enhancement, we need you to change your e-mail address to continue signing in to the Windows Live(TM) Messenger Service.

To ensure that your access is not blocked and to learn more, go to http://support.microsoft.com/gp/Messenger/en

The link goes to a Microsoft Help and Support page that details changing your IM address for Office Live Communications Server 2005 SP1. However the whole thing was a big mistake, according to a post on the Windows Live Team blog:

Earlier today, Messenger customers may have received an instant message that looked like this:

We sincerely apologize, but this was accidentally sent out. If you received this notification today, please ignore it. You will be able to continue to use your current e-mail address, and there is no reason to make any changes.

If you have already clicked the link, there is no harm to you. You should have been told that your “Windows Live ID can’t be changed at this time” because there is no need for the change.

These service notifications are only used for urgent issues but unfortunately, somebody made a mistake that caused this message to be sent out. We will definitely be reviewing our process to make sure we avoid such mistakes in the future.

Again, we’re very sorry for any confusion that may have been caused.

A number of angry comments are accumulating on the blog post, and one commenter has what seems to be a good idea:

May I make a suggestion that the same method that was used to blast us all with this message be used to retract it? I just spent an hour trying to figure out if this was a spoof and finally (thank goodness!) found this.

New Live Search brand name revealed: “great verbability”

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:02:36 GMT

Ok so I was going to hide my head under a rock until this April Fool’s thing blew over, but Microsoft and Live Search are having so much fun, it’s worth a comment. First up is the Live Search background image today, a classic:

(Check out Wikipedia for more on the Jackalope)

Then Kara Swisher, master of the leaked email, got another one today, only this time with tongue firmly in cheek:

Coming complete with screenshot, Kara received a “leaked” email announcing “Umok”:

In testing, Omuk scored very high on attributes like “empowering”, “organized” and “warm/fuzzy.” Another key attribute was ease of spelling and Omuk did very well. There was some concerns that people might spell it ohmuk or omuck but that didn’t happen.

The final key feature for the brand was verbability. Here marketing is planning to go with a little ingenuity and drop the o and just push “muk it.” In ads they will get playful and have the actors talk about the joys of accessing unlimited knowledge by just “muking around”, etc. The hope is to generate a lot of word-of-mouth and free impressions on the internet the way that the very successful Bill and Jerry commercials did for Windows.

Below is a sample homepage screenshot with the new brand. Really looks great. This also has the latest thinking on default “scopes.”

(hmm, ok we get the joke on the “adult” scopes, but the whole “Explore” UX actually looks kind of cool. Is this “joke” revealing more than intended?)

Oh, and yes we got a little tripped up by the April Fool’s mania ourselves, and thanks to Dharmesh Mehta for taking it all with good humor, both in comments here and at Mynetx.net. But we can’t help but notice how many readers both here and there think that Messenger interop would be a great idea. Are you listening, Microsoft?

Coming at Mix 09: Adding Messenger to your site gets better and (much) easier

Kip Kniskern — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:57:00 GMT

Mix 09, Microsoft’s annual web developer conference held around this time in Las Vegas, is next week. Last year we went down to listen to the Ray Ozzie keynote, and learn a bunch about the soon to be announced “Horizon”, or Live Mesh. While we’re not going this year, we’ll be paying close attention to the keynotes and the sessions.

In looking through the session announcements (check out “Live Services”), we spotted a couple of mentions of a “Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit”. Now we’ve had some experience with adding Windows Live Messenger functionality to websites; we had it running here ourselves (and will soon again, stay tuned), and our good friend Colin Brown wrote a deep dive series for us on building out a custom implementation of Messenger.

However truthfully it was a bit of an undertaking to build your own web Messenger, even though the Messenger Library offers a full set of tools. Looks like the Messenger platform guys took that to heart, and next week at Mix they will unveil their new Web Toolkit and the Web Bar, which makes the whole process quite a bit easier.

Of course we wouldn’t want you to wait all the way until next week, so we poked around a bit and came up with a couple of screenshots and a bit of early news on these new tools.

In these early pre-production screenshots, we get an idea of the ready to use features of the web toolkit:

With the Web Bar control installed, visitors to the site will be able to initiate conversations through an interface familiar to Windows Live Messenger users. This allows users to interact via Messenger while visiting your site, but by opting in, users can chat with people without them needing to be on their buddy list, and can reach them in the client if they’ve opted in:

Nothing will be taken away from the Messenger Library: site owners will be able to use the web bar as one control, but the Web Toolkit controls will be fully extensible, and skinnable via CSS, giving a wide range of options from the easiest (web bar) to most flexible (Messenger Library).

So what does this mean? We’ll have to wait for Mix to find out the whole story, but adding Messenger to your site to acquire users and bring them back, and to engage them to stick around longer, will soon become much easier for web developers and site owners. We’ll have more soon, and will be looking forward to getting it up and running on LiveSide! Can’t wait :).

Windows Live Messenger upgrade available

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 05:07:00 GMT

A new update to Windows Live Messenger Version 2009 (build 14.0.8064.0206) will be offered over the next month as an optional upgrade, according to the Inside Windows Live Messenger blog, or you can upgrade to the latest version now, using the Windows Live Essentials installer. No word as to what changes have been made to the newest version (the current build of 2009 is 14.0.8050.1202).

Update After installing the update (running Win7 Beta), not only Messenger, but Mail, Photo Gallery, and Writer are also updated to 8064.0206. A quick check shows that Win 7 still treats Messenger in the same "annoying" way, so it's back to running in Vista compatibility mode (see #28, thanks Tim!), at least for now. Let us know in the comments if you find any changes.