Shoutbox

The ideal choice will be to upgrade to Skype while keeping our contacts together. After seeing the new Skype Plus installer this isn't funny anymore.

Been using Windows Live since it was MSN for a decade. 7.5 was probably the peak of its simplicity before everything gets too social. 2009 was the latest version where it's acceptable and that's the version I'm using now until the red line on April 8th.

At this point I don't know if it's worth upgrading to Skype. It's great to keep in touch with family and RL people but that isn't what I'm looking for when I use an instant messenger.  I keep my personal life and online life separate for important reasons. Too many companies aim for this and now it's Windows Live's turn.

I am highly considering a different IM software right now but don't know what. There's still time to convince my friends what software still have that genuine instant messenger feeling without all the forced socialization gimmick.

So my fellow WLM users, where are you gonna be come April 8th?

I wont be using any. Me and my friend decided if we want to talk we will call each other. And we have plans on putting a forum together for us to talk on.
It's the only thing that makes sense. I have no reason to get Skype or any other half asked featureless client just to talk to ONE person. It'd be a complete waste of a client

Likely I'll be using IMQQ, which is a Chinese client translated for international use. It has many of the same features and set-up, but does not support sounds and many other plus features. Mainly, you get to keep your familiar interface.
http://www.imqq.com/shanghai/

Another option is Trillian. I haven't looked into the program yet, but it looks very similar, and it might be a better alternative for some. Unfortunately I don't have much to share about it, but I'll put a link to Trillian and a blog entry about it down below.
https://www.trillian.im/
http://beingabadass.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/what-t...n-wlm-retires.html

Thanks for your responses guys. Will give it IMQQ a try.

Did anyone try aMSN? http://www.amsn-project.net/
I only found out about this today so it's unknown if it uses the MS NET passport to connect or is it its own program. I don't know if the features are all working too.

quote:

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Originally posted by ChiBuki
Did anyone try aMSN? http://www.amsn-project.net/
I only found out about this today so it's unknown if it uses the MS NET passport to connect or is it its own program.

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It relies on a service provided by Microsoft, it will be shut down eventually (the MSN/WLM connectivity part).

quote:

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Originally posted by http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/live/default.aspx
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) ends October 2013
MSP (MSNP) ends March 2014

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One of those two, depending on which aMSN uses.

I think everyone should migrate to ICQ.

Wow two alternatives.
And ICQ even has a Win8 version. HM....
But ya iunno. And msn is still working as we speak.
lol...When is the stealing of msn take place today? Around noon?

Thanks to CocoP, I looked into QQi(nternational)/IMQQ and it's turned out to be a rather pleasant replacement. From what I can tell, it seems like a heavily modified MSN as it is (wouldn't doubt it, anyway), but running on its own individual client, with some fun extra features and a nice, free (unlike with Skype) group video call ability. Stable group chats, too, which I personally haven't experienced in a few years out of MSN. Easy image sharing, from pasted images to saved images -- even gifs. Cute, well-rendered emoticons, and a fun DIY avatar maker if you're into those things. There's apparently a screen capture button, video clip recorder, and audio clip recorder, but I haven't fully explored those features just yet. Quite a fan of the drawing tool, as well, which was a favorite feature of MSN that I haven't found in any other IM so far.

The size of the display pics took some modifying on my end, but it's fun to get a gif in there once you find one that fits without stretching, but photos work perfectly fine with the space thanks to its built in editor. I wasn't so sure about the audio quality at first, but it seems to be fine and stable. Only running at slightly more resources than MSN did, it's highly customizable and stable enough without being bloated like Skype.

The only set backs I've noticed are slow update time on contact display pictures, finicky in-chat security concerning certain links (though not blocking them so much as bringing up a hover window saying it's from an unverified source, though giving an option to open it from there anyway), sometimes having to close the chat window to get gifs and images to load up properly/quickly again, learning how to figure out where everything is, and knowing what settings to turn on and off to your comfort, -- not to mention lack of Plus! support from what I can tell, ): -- but they're all very minor in the grand scheme of things.

All in all: stable, customizable, aesthetically pleasing once you've tweaked around and slapped a fun little theme on it, and a seemingly fine substitute to Skype -- at least for me. (: Hopefully more people can hop on this and give their own opinions on tweaks or any way of modifying the program like we did previously with MSN, and just shed more perspective on its general utility and stability in general.

Good to know. Msn so far is STILL working. xD
And it's past 2 PM here. I was gonna check out those two but I guess I'll wait for Microsoft to screw me and take away msn which I was waiting for all day. xD
But apparently they aren't "forcing" a uninstall of it. Or at leas not yet?

I looked into IMQQ, mainly cause it supports custom emotes which I think is fun, but after some googling I found lots of ppl complaining about it's difficulty to be uninstalled. Anyone know anything about this?