01.12.09
Microsoft Inter-Nope: MSN No Longer for GNU/Linux Users?
Some time ago we saw Microsoft shutting GNU/Linux users out of Hotmail (and reportedly censoring complaints). Those who rely on MSN (IM) protocols are now suffering from similar consequences of changes; there are complaints all over the Web and here is just one. It works fine for Windows users, but most GNU/Linux users are left out in the cold.
Why is Microsoft doing this? Is this an error? Why should Free software projects come to rely on Microsoft? And yet, the company wants to become friends with projects like VLC? Mozilla can perhaps tell its bitter story about such tactics. █
Roy Bixler said,
January 12, 2009 at 10:58 am
That’s typical MS behaviour; software churn and upgrade treadmill. It is ironic in light of the IM wars of years ago when Microsoft complained about AOL’s proprietary IM service and proposed IM interoperability. Of course, that didn’t happen. I believe that Google’s GTalk is the only one that uses an open standard IM protocol.
Diamond Wakizashi said,
January 12, 2009 at 2:44 pm
“MSN No Longer for GNU/Linux Users?”
That’s fine with me! They want to lose even more users to Google? This sounds like another one of that crazed lunatic Ballmer’s idiotic ideas.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 12, 2009 at 2:49 pm
They must be aware of this problem by now.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 12, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Update:
A minute ago (in IRC)…
<trmanco>
<trmanco> LOL
<trmanco> msn got back online
<trmanco> wait, maybe I’m dreaming
<trmanco> no I’m not
<trmanco> it is back online
<trmanco> yep, people can confirm this
<trmanco> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pidgin/+bug/316252 se the latest comments
<trmanco> see*
<trmanco> crappy servers
Diamond Wakizashi said,
January 12, 2009 at 3:07 pm
“crappy servers”
They are using their own nasty Windows garbageware?
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 12, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Here’s what it is:
(20:15:09) soap: current HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:15:07 GMT
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
X-AspNet-Version: 2.0.50727
trmanco said,
January 12, 2009 at 3:22 pm
@Diamond Wakizashi
Yes…
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:15:07 GMT
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
X-AspNet-Version: 2.0.50727
Diamond Wakizashi said,
January 12, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Their IT people probably wish they could use Linux. The Windows garbageware is making their jobs much more difficult.
Needs Sunlight said,
January 12, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Even for those still stuck in Windows, it is time to drop MSN.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 12, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I think that it’s friends who use MSN that are the cause,
Mikko said,
January 12, 2009 at 4:52 pm
MSN works with pidgin 2.2.1
Lyle Howard Seave said,
January 12, 2009 at 5:09 pm
>I think that it’s friends who use MSN that are the cause
It is.
Its hard to get people to change IM’s.
Even more so people who arent technically able. (“Install how?”)
Once Yahoo and MSN were able to communicate together, a lot of people I know dumped the hotmail identity they had created JUST to be able to communicate with by IM w/ friends/family who used the IM ‘that came with the computer’.
I have friends and family around the world who run ICQ, Yahoo/MSN, AOL, Skype, IRC, Googletalk and a few others. I use them all except Skype on Kopete, so its not like Im a client of their other services in any way but the protocol they use.
I hope XMPP can do for IM what SMTP did for email.
E-mail previously existed in closed communities including AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy and the rest of the Internet. When SMTP (with all its flaws, spam and security problems) won out in the long run, it made email a truly universal communication.
Open standards are not the friends of monopolies.
lachlan said,
January 14, 2009 at 1:22 am
it’s probably because pidgin is crap.
for msn i use emesene from their SVN repo and i haven’t had an issue with using msn since then.
the issue being that all my friends use windows and therefore msn, you’d also look pretty lame trying to chat up girls on msn while telling them that linux is so much sexier on a girl.
Omar Hafez said,
January 14, 2009 at 4:43 am
@ lachlan
No, Pidgin is good for GTalk and some IRC but not for MSN and Yahoo.
I’m forced to use MSN because some of my friends use it, so I use emesene to access it, and it’s working like a charm.