Shoutbox

My Vista computer did force me to upgrade plus (or should I say, strongly recommended it) - that's how I realized there was an update in the first place.  It said, roughly - there is a new build, and if you do not upgrade now you may lose use of certain functions or MSN may not start properly.  I didn't receive this on my XP machine but did it manually anyway.

Also, I think you're completely misunderstanding (though, like you say, you've never used the mobile functionality much).  You don't have to log into MSN, or even have an MSN account, to receive mobile messages from someone using an MSN account.

The"mobile" contact communicates solely through text messages, they do not log into MSN on their phone whatsoever - therefore, there could never be a "real" MSN display name.  It's simply a cell number on your contact list, that's it.  AIM also has the same functionality, as we previously communicated the same way using AIM (without them having an AIM account) until I realized that the MSN text server is far more reliable.

For the record, I have this person added as a regular MSN contact (with email/passport), and their mobile number is added as a completely separate "contact".  They are not related or tied together whatsoever.   But, as you'll see, this is neither here nor there.


To see for yourself, go to your contact list, add a new contact and enter a mobile number without an email address.  It shows up much like my screenshot does - a cell icon with their name next to it.  Nowhere does it attempt to ask for a passport or look on the server for contact information - you simply have to add in a first name and a mobile number, that's it.

As a matter of fact, for the heck of it, I just added my cell number to my contact list (without ever tying my account to it), sent myself a message, and I received a text message saying "You have received a message from (my email address) - reply "R" to allow this message to be sent to you or "D" to deny it" without ever touching MSN on my phone.  Heck, my phone is archaic anyway, I couldn't have MSN on it even if I wanted to.   Point is, though, it can most certainly be done without a passport - heck, even without your permission.  (A little scary if you think about it, but.. that's why the deny message is there, I guess?)

Anyway, like I said.. because of this, the only way to give them a "name" is to add it yourself (and it's mandatory that you give them a name).. and what I added previously was displayed in the tab along with that same mobile icon as seen above.  I can only assume that it somehow treats the contact list entry differently for mobile entries like this, which is why it displayed like it did previously.


PS.  You said you tested it on Plus! 4.8, which is exactly my point -- it doesn't display on 4.8.  It did, however, display on Plus! 4.7.  That's why I'm posting in the first place.  Also, in case it wasn't clear, the only thing that changed between it displaying the name and mobile icon and not displaying it was upgrading from Plus! 4.7 to Plus! 4.8.  Nothing else changed.