Shoutbox

Well, it's kind of a sad day for me, because I'm not doing this out of frustration with the product (although, I will mention a couple bugs in a minute), but I have uninstalled Messenger Plus! from all three of my computers.

Why? Well, to be honest, I just don't use it that much. In fact, other than tabbed chats (which is still pretty flaky) and personal away messages, I don't use any of the current Plus! features.

I used to use sounds all the time... but the problem is that none of my contacts have Plus! so they can't experience them the way I do. I have never used the automatic accept options, and I prefer the built-in logging functionality (not saying Plus! is bad in that respect), and well... even Personalized Status is lacking one function I really really miss from the old version.

I mentioned tabbed chats being flaky... not seriously so, but the inability to ALT-TAB to the window is VERY annoying (and has been reported since 4.x was released), and often times when I click on the taskbar button I have to "fiddle" with it to make the window re-open from a minimized state. Not annoying enough to make me angry about Plus! but annoying enough to shut the feature off.

I love Personalized Status... I like being able to have it echo back friendly messages! Why the "Disable Personalized Messages for this window" option was removed from the IM Window's Plus! menu, I don't understand. I still wish the listing of presets was alphabetized too.

One ability I would like to see added would be to record audio and video conversations as mp3 and mpg files and call it multimedia logging.

I like the *idea* of scripts... but a) I'm not a developer [no matter how easy it may be], and b) for some on these threads, it has become a cop-out for shooting down new feature ideas... "Oh just write a script! ..... and then share it with the rest of us!" (That's not the way "open-source" efforts are supposed to work, btw).

Don't get the wrong idea... Patchou is a great guy and is clearly committed to the product. I really LIKE the product a lot, too... but it no longer fits my needs, so I felt obligated to remove it. I will continue to support the use of the product, and I will keep an eye on new versions and try them out if I see features I want or need. For now, however, I've removed it and felt it was appropriate to come here and share reasons for doing so.

Best Regards,
Aaron M. Hall
GoodThings2Life

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Originally posted by GoodThings2Life
but the inability to ALT-TAB to the window is VERY annoying (and has been reported since 4.x was released)

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CTRL + TAB?

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Originally posted by GoodThings2Life
I mentioned tabbed chats being flaky... not seriously so, but the inability to ALT-TAB to the window is VERY annoying

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Don't have that problem here, i'm sure patchou is working on it.

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Originally posted by GoodThings2Life
and often times when I click on the taskbar button I have to "fiddle" with it to make the window re-open from a minimized state

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Don't have this problem either, maybe there's something wrong with  your windows configuration that it does this?

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Originally posted by GoodThings2Life
it has become a cop-out for shooting down new feature ideas...  "Oh just write a script! ..... and then share it with the rest of us!"

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It's not really shooting down, just keeping the program itself from getting bloated, if 10 people of the 10 million plus! users want this feature it's better to make a script.

Not trying to start any battles here... I understand the idea of bloat control. I agree with doing so... and I'm not saying everyone here does that. But some do! Keep in mind that 10 people wanting something isn't an indication that it's only 10 people... the others may simply choose not to ask.

In response, no, I meant ALT-TAB... you know... if I am looking at a different window and want to go back to the window without having to take my hands off the keyboard. I know that CTRL-TAB switches tabs. The problem I'm referring to will often not even show the Messenger window in ALT-TAB list... and it doesn't show ALL of the IM windows, only the most recent. Working properly, ALT-TAB would show all, even though the taskbar only shows one. Then, when you ALT-TAB into it, it should switch to that particular tab if it wasn't already selected.

The other problem is certainly NOT a Windows problem when things work fine for all other programs, and Messenger works fine without Plus installed or if Tabbed Chats is disabled.

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Originally posted by GoodThings2Life
I love Personalized Status... I like being able to have it echo back friendly messages! Why the "Disable Personalized Messages for this window" option was removed from the IM Window's Plus! menu, I don't understand. I still wish the listing of presets was alphabetized too.

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And don't forget that you can select who are you going to set a Away Message..

About the other, generaly, I know Patchou is working on it... It's difficult to make a Live release with WLM 8 changes...

quote:

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Originally posted by GoodThings2Life
I like the *idea* of scripts... but a) I'm not a developer [no matter how easy it may be], and b) for some on these threads, it has become a cop-out for shooting down new feature ideas... "Oh just write a script! ..... and then share it with the rest of us!" (That's not the way "open-source" efforts are supposed to work, btw).

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I'm not a Developer too... but this is not a reason to unistall Plus!. If you have patience, you're going to start learning something... Don't forget that nobody born knowing the codes...

About part b -> Don't forget that scripts give more function on Plus! And is normal a person that doesn't know anything about scripting to ask about a feature/script...

Anyway I don't want to fight... Your preferences, your opinion... There is nothing anybody (including me) can do about it...

Thanks for the support and all... it was a hard decision for me to make since I have always liked (and still do). It's not because of bugs or anything like that. I don't want anyone to think otherwise. I simply don't have a need for it, because the feature set no longer fits my usage.

I do, however, feel it's important to comment on the bugs for the benefit of the community... Patchou can't fix what he doesn't know is a problem.

quote:

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Originally posted by GoodThings2Life
The problem I'm referring to will often not even show the Messenger window in ALT-TAB list... and it doesn't show ALL of the IM windows, only the most recent. Working properly, ALT-TAB would show all, even though the taskbar only shows one.

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This isn't a problem, this is exactly the same as the tabs in firefox and the likes.  If you had all the windows being shown then it would bloat the ALT + TAB window and take a while to get through them all (and difficult to get to something in a hurry).  This way it keeps everything minimal and easy to use.  If you take a look at other programs that use tabs you will see it does exactly the same thing for this exact reason (and possibly more).

EDIT: Btw, I appreciate that you took the time to report your concern.  I would think Patchou also likes the idea that you took the time and care about the program enough to give your views too.