Shoutbox

As I don't doubt many of you noticed, there were three statuses removed from Windows Live Messenger 9.0, namely "Be Right Back", "On The Phone" and "Out to Lunch". The only remaining statuses are "Available", "Away", "Busy" and "Appear offline". You can no longer set yourself to one of the old statuses, and anybody having one such deprecated status, will be shown as "Away". This is, in my opinion, a program lying to you and it could cause misinterpretations and such things - and either way, I like these three, and I'm not the only one.

I created a petition[1] and a friend of mine posted on a forum read by MS developers, but I seriously doubt that will have any effect. I saw some people come by and sign the petition, and that's only a fraction of the people who want these statuses back.

Is it possible for Plus! to re-add those statuses? It would be best if support for these statuses could be readded so that my status according to the server *is* actually "Be right back", for example, and other (read third-party) clients would show as be right back too. Though, I've looked into the protocol a while ago for writing a client, and I seriously doubt it's possible for plugins to send protocol messages the client itself does not even understand anymore.

So if that's not possible, there's the alternative: is it possible for Messenger Plus! to do some kind of status emulation? E.g. when I set my status to brb, I show to clients without Plus (possibly including third-party clients) as "Away", and to clients with Plus support as "Be right back".

I hope this is possible... Thanks anyway, and don't forget to sign the petition if you agree!

[1] http://www.petitiononline.com/wlm9stat/petition.html

plus! has custom status...

(but why are those status so important? If you're on the fone, being right back or out to lunch, you're away =X)

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Originally posted by blessedguy
plus! has custom status...

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Yeah, but that only shows correctly when other people have Plus support too...

quote:

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Originally posted by blessedguy
(but why are those status so important? If you're on the fone, being right back or out to lunch, you're away =X)

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First of all, yeah, there are a lot of people ignoring statuses whatsoever. And second of all, I agree, those statuses come down to away. However "brb" for one means you are away, but only for a short period of time. I know people with a serious distinction between the two. Many people also use the lunch break status to indicate what they're away for, so everybody has a guess as to when they will return.

These statuses may seem useless to some people, but still many people use them, and I *know* I'm not the only one disappointed they are gone, and who wants them back.

I think it will be possible to get them back with a bit resource hacking, but i'm not sure.

They're useless...
If you REALLY want to differ them, add in your personal message: **Be Right back!**

quote:

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Originally posted by dazjorz

quote:

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Originally posted by blessedguy
plus! has custom status...

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Yeah, but that only shows correctly when other people have Plus support too...

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Incorrect, custom statuses show correctly whether the contact has Plus! installed or not

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Originally posted by djdannyp
Incorrect, custom statuses show correctly whether the contact has Plus! installed or not

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Oh, right, in the name. True. That's acceptable, I guess, even though "really" having the statuses back would be better IMO.

quote:

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Originally posted by blessedguy
They're useless...
If you REALLY want to differ them, add in your personal message: **Be Right back!**

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So I walk downstairs for a minute, and before I do that, I set my status to away (two clicks), then click my personal message, remove enough to make space (a few clicks and a key press), type "Be right back!", and then walk away for a minute, then when I return, I make another ten clicks before my status is back at what it was? No thanks. Just a "Be right back" status would be better, don't you think?

quote:

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Originally posted by dazjorz

quote:

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Originally posted by djdannyp
Incorrect, custom statuses show correctly whether the contact has Plus! installed or not

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Oh, right, in the name. True. That's acceptable, I guess, even though "really" having the statuses back would be better IMO.

quote:

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Originally posted by blessedguy
They're useless...
If you REALLY want to differ them, add in your personal message: **Be Right back!**

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So I walk downstairs for a minute, and before I do that, I set my status to away (two clicks), then click my personal message, remove enough to make space (a few clicks and a key press), type "Be right back!", and then walk away for a minute, then when I return, I make another ten clicks before my status is back at what it was? No thanks. Just a "Be right back" status would be better, don't you think?

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Not at all.
In messenger 2009 for example, I'm able to type almost a full paragraph. And you've already tooken more that 10 clicks you'd have taken if you just used away or typed in your personal message

Use Plus! custom status', as already stated, these work fine.

On a sidenote, what's wrong with being simply busy or away? People really don't care that you're Be Right Back instead of Away, and frankly if you're only popping downstairs for two minutes, I'm pretty sure your contacts can wait that two minutes for you to get back upstairs and reply to them.

quote:

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Originally posted by blessedguy
Not at all.
In messenger 2009 for example, I'm able to type almost a full paragraph. And you've already tooken more that 10 clicks you'd have taken if you just used away or typed in your personal message

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But you get the point, right? One click would be better.

Will personized statuses be integrated in Plus! into the standard statuses menu, and a default list for "Be right back", "Out for dinner" and "On the phone" be made? That would help most people, while not being in the way.