Shoutbox

I am a big fan of Messenger Plus!, but I am wondering where it stands legally.  Messenger Plus! clearly modifies the functionality of Messenger, which MS allows?

The reason I am asking is because I am thinking about making a small plug-in myself.  I have no grand aspirations like Messenger Plus!, but I have a few small ideas of my own.  I would like to know how Messenger Plus! gets approval directly or indirectly from MS for this plug-in. 

If anyone has any suggestions regarding this issue (where to find the Messenger EULA, which parts of the Messenger EULA to read, any other legal documents MS has put out on Messenger plug-ins, other precedents, other threads) I would be very grateful.

Thanks everyone for any help you can contribute.

Wix

Because it doesnt modify the exe and/or other files of MSN Messenger i think.

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Originally posted by wix12w

The reason I am asking is because I am thinking about making a small plug-in myself.  I have no grand aspirations like Messenger Plus!, but I have a few small ideas of my own.  I would like to know how Messenger Plus! gets approval directly or indirectly from MS for this plug-in. 

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They invited the creator to reymond this year, they are aware of the program and this visit made them work in a way with it e.g not making it too hard to update, not stealing features

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Originally posted by hmaster
Because it doesnt modify the exe and/or other files of MSN Messenger i think.

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That's right. Messenger Plus! simply hooks MSN Messenger, it doesn't edit any of the application, it's a standalone program that mainly uses MSN Messenger's API.

i thought your internet was taken away trax ?

glad to see you online.

Anyway, Im just going to quote will (wtbw) on this.

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Originally posted by wtbw
Messenger Plus (which yes, also does some small patches in memory, and therefore "modifies" the "Service", albeit in a more minor and careful way)

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as for your question wix12w, I'm not sure of the legality of proxies but that might be a path you mite take. If I am correct, the proxy doesn't directly modify the exe or the service. It just takes full advantage of the features in the protocol.

Hi All,

Wow, this is a fast-action forum!  Thanks for all your quick responses.  While Pat Chou might have been invited to Redmond, I don't think I will be so lucky, so I'd like investigate the legal side a little bit.

The current TOS reads that the user is prohibited from

"Using access to the Service to obtain any data to design, develop or update unauthorized software that you use or provide to otehrs to access or use the service"

Pretty generic, yet nonetheless powerful stuff.

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That's right. Messenger Plus! simply hooks MSN Messenger, it doesn't edit any of the API, it's a standalone program.

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MSN 7.5 has an API?  If that's the case, then I'm really in the dark.  Where's the API?

My opinion is that Plus does modify the behavior of Messenger regardless of whether it is using a simple hook or any other means.  Plus subverts Messenger in some cases to do what it wants.  However, Plus is well-received by MS =)

Back to some more browsing.  I will probably go ahead and create my plug-in and join the many other software writers who are in this gray legal area.

I stand corrected