Scott Swanson - MSN Messenger APIs

The Discussion

• 

  Halfway through the video.  I wonder about whether using the IM client as a search client.  I still fall into the "more-is-less" camp as far as IM clients go.
  
  I suppose the high-schoolers would have a different opinion.
  

• 

  I keep saying that the online profile people have should be made mandatory to be filled in. Its no good in having one unless done so, anyway I don't see why there are two in the first place; the private one and the public. The public details should be garnered form the private, selective of course.
  
  If MSN are finally going to introduce Maps and IM then get the two more intervoven, If one of my firends is from Germany then show a German flag by them and when I click on their profile show their location on VE. That kind of functionality give people a reason to add personal info to a profile.
  
  One way of chatting is to have MSN show up as a VE map and all my friends shown where they live on the map, when people come online the MSN IM markers would change (as they do now) and the globe would 'come alive' it would be a nice way to chat.
  

• 

  Great great video, some damn fine innovation in messaging
  
  BUT
  
  I use AIM, all my friends use AIM, Charles, Robert, everyone at Microsoft, get Microsoft to buy AOL already!
  
  One more thing. I have a messanger account, and my email isn't verified. I click the damn button to verify my email but I never get it?!
  
  I think I know why... I use a gmail account
  
  Play nice!
  
  EDIT: One more thing again (jesus I'm starting to sound like Steve Jobs) beat these guys over the head to change the UI. Look at the old versions of aim, the new google talk, look at trillian, LEARN. We hate bloat!
  

• 

  Personally, I use trillian.  The only way I'd use MSN IM is if:
   1. Everyone I know spontaneously switched to MSN exclusively, with no accounts on other IM networks
   2. Microsoft could guarantee never to have an IM server outage, thus forcing me to use other networks for my IM
   3. MSN would let me format PART of my message rather than the entire message (i.e., italics)
   4. I could run it with the messenger service disabled (not just stopped, disabled.)
   5. Guarantee there will be no ads
   6. Run in minimal desktop and memory footprints
   7. Not look like that fruity WMP10 [still use Mplayer2 and Winamp]
   8. One window, multiple accounts connected
  
  [rant style="assorted"] Haven't used their program in awhile, since Trillian connects to my Passport-based accounts (i.e., hotmail, excite, msn).  Funny that I can log into an MSN IM account via an E-mail address that hasn't existed in a few months.   Anyway, I don't know if it's skinnable, but either way I want a skin that consumes a minimum footprint.  Titlebar, menubar, buddies with group counts, and a sizer triangle at the bottom right corner.  That's all I want there.  No fancy, user-friendly, real estate hogging UI. I want to disable sounds, smileys, and those annoying notifications that pop up and get clicked on during a full screen game of Starcraft.  Yes I still play Starcraft. Well, they haven't improved on the idea yet.  Sure, graphics on newer RTS's are nicer, but I still like pitting 400 zerglings against six psi storms.  I like stealing drones and SCVs to create a triple race with 600 food for resources.  What's that?  Bah, I can live at 640x480 until Starcraft 2 comes out... oh wait, it's been over a decade.  Screw it, I give up on the sequel.  Where's my dinner?
  [/rant]
  
  EDIT: Added some requirements, forgot my witty response to the video itself:  It's funny seeing an ad in an IE window when my other systems had that same ad shown on a different site at the same time.  Sad that ad's gotten around so much I recognize it (www.classmates.com) .
  
  EDIT2:  Dunno if it helps but I've found the easiest and most final way to stop messenger from respawning every time I shoot it down is to replace msmsgs.exe with ping.exe - it's part of my standard Windows install procedure. No load on boot, no load on outlook, no load spontaneously at random without cause, no recreating msmsgs.exe after it's deleted. I call this my BFG move, because it's the best way to kill it dead. and disable that service!!!
  
  No offense to MSN users.

• 

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  Microsoft could guarantee never to have an IM server outage, thus forcing me to use other networks for my IM

  
  Is there any IM network that *guarantees* 100% uptime?
  I bet the answer is - NO.
  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  I could run it with the messenger service disabled (not just stopped, disabled.)

  
  MSN Messenger is not connected to the messenger service in any way (except same name).
  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  Guarantee there will be no ads

  
  Yeah! And please no commercial breaks in "Lost" too.
  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  Run in minimal desktop and memory footprints

  
  On your 286 pc?
  I find Messenger pretty fast actually.
  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  Not look like that fruity WMP10 [still use Mplayer2 and Winamp]

  
  Winamp? Isn't it even more fruity? In fact it has no native GUI too.
  Oh, idea for future mindless MS bashing - you can also blame Microsoft for terribly slow codecs (since unlike newer players your Mplayer2 does not support fast ASF/WinMedia reader).
  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  Funny that I can log into an MSN IM account via an E-mail address that hasn't existed in a few months

  
  Would you like monthly or weekly checks for your e-mail validity more?
  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  I want to disable sounds, smileys, and those annoying notifications

  
  OMG! You already can! For several years already!
  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  Dunno if it helps but I've found the easiest and most final way to stop messenger from respawning every time I shoot it down is to replace msmsgs.exe with ping.exe - it's part of my standard Windows install procedure. No load on boot, no load on outlook, no load spontaneously at random without cause, no recreating msmsgs.exe after it's deleted. I call this my BFG move, because it's the best way to kill it dead. and disable that service!!!

  
  Or you can just set the option in "Preferences". Or in "Group Policy". Or simply in registry. Or use provided .inf file to remove it. Or disable it using "Add/Remove programs". And again, Windows "Messenger" service is not connected to MSN Messenger. And msmsgs.exe is not Windows "Messenger" service.

• 

  Well, I wasn't trying to start a flame war here, but it would be cowardly of me not to respond...
  
  

  futurix wrote:

  Is there any IM network that *guarantees* 100% uptime?
  I bet the answer is - NO.
  

  
  
  I was referring to the MSN IM client, not the network.  I have no problem using the network itself.
  
  

  futurix wrote:

  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote: Run in minimal desktop and memory footprints

  On your 286 pc?
  I find Messenger pretty fast actually.
  

  
  
  My concern was mostly about desktop footprint.  For my uses, desktop real estate is valuable, and I don't want seperate windows open for every network I connect to. For the moment, my systems and I will ignore your slanderous remark about the hardware.
  
  

  futurix wrote:

  
  Winamp? Isn't it even more fruity? In fact it has no native GUI too.
  Oh, idea for future mindless MS bashing - you can also blame Microsoft for terribly slow codecs (since unlike newer players your Mplayer2 does not support fast ASF/WinMedia reader).
  

  
  
  I use the classic skin in WinAmp 5. It's small, rectangular, and straightforward, conveying a large amount of information and control in a minimum amount of space. Newer versions of WMP come as a bloated UI with extraneous eratta on all four sides that I neither need nor want.  While WinAmp may sport an entirely extra window, it can be made smaller, or hidden by the video window. Another major concern here is that WinAmp has better multi-monitor support. For instance, if I have a video playing full-screen on one monitor and click on another screen, WinAmp won't restore the video to a window like WMP does.
  
  

  futurix wrote:

  
  

  SlackmasterK wrote: Funny that I can log into an MSN IM account via an E-mail address that hasn't existed in a few months

  Would you like monthly or weekly checks for your e-mail validity more?
  

  
  I didn't mean this as an affront, simply an amusing observation with no negative intentions.
  
  

  futurix wrote:

  SlackmasterK wrote: Dunno if it helps but I've found the easiest and most final way to stop messenger from respawning every time I shoot it down is to replace msmsgs.exe with ping.exe - it's part of my standard Windows install procedure. No load on boot, no load on outlook, no load spontaneously at random without cause, no recreating msmsgs.exe after it's deleted. I call this my BFG move, because it's the best way to kill it dead. and disable that service!!!

  
  Or you can just set the option in "Preferences". Or in "Group Policy". Or simply in registry. Or use provided .inf file to remove it. Or disable it using "Add/Remove programs". And again, Windows "Messenger" service is not connected to MSN Messenger. And msmsgs.exe is not Windows "Messenger" service.

  
  
  Perhaps my perceptions about the connection between Messenger and Messenger were incorrect. However, one command into the run box to me is faster than opening preferences, policy editors, registry editors, or CP applets.  The MSN IM client, upon Windows default installation, comes with pop-up balloons and an extraneous systray icon, while stifling efforts to close it by re-opening itself next boot or next time Outlook is opened.  Deleting it causes it to re-appear next boot more often than not.  It's just a bit of an annoyance. 
  
  Again I want to reiterate that my beef is against the client, not the network. In the future, I will be more careful with my wording.

• 

  I went to their website and downloaded the so-called SKD that they have put out.
  
  I was not impressed. It was a zip file with a help file, a example html page and that was it... No stuff to tie into Visual Studio. I know but  after the DirectX9 SDK im kinda spoiled.
  
  The help file dont tell me anything either, in the video he said 7 methods and some 17 event i think, about all find in the helpfile are 3 methods/events with no real explanation.
  
  Write a more advanced tutorial and ill gleefully try again

• 

  You probably downloaded the MSN Messenger Activity SDK but there's also the Windows Messenger SDK which allows to do more with MSN Messenger. Too bad it's the same API which the old Windows Messenger uses - there's no way to communicate with MSN Messenger without having to install Window Messenger unless you use this Activity SDK which doesn't offer much, I guess.
  
  I hope that they will add more advanced API commands to the next version/s which won't require Windows Messenger installed too.

• 

  SlackmasterK wrote:

  Perhaps my perceptions about the connection between Messenger and Messenger were incorrect. However, one command into the run box to me is faster than opening preferences, policy editors, registry editors, or CP applets.  The MSN IM client, upon Windows default installation, comes with pop-up balloons and an extraneous systray icon, while stifling efforts to close it by re-opening itself next boot or next time Outlook is opened.  Deleting it causes it to re-appear next boot more often than not.  It's just a bit of an annoyance.

  
  
  I use TweakUI to get rid of the balloons. I could use Group Policy editor, but TweakUI has a much better UI and it doesn't have a really hard to find set of options, the options are right in front of you.
  
  
  
  </offtopic>
  Loadsgood.

• 

  yyy wrote:

  You probably downloaded the MSN Messenger Activity SDK but there's also the Windows Messenger SDK which allows to do more with MSN Messenger. Too bad it's the same API which the old Windows Messenger uses - there's no way to communicate with MSN Messenger without having to install Window Messenger unless you use this Activity SDK which doesn't offer much, I guess.
  
  I hope that they will add more advanced API commands to the next version/s which won't require Windows Messenger installed too.

  
  
  Yeah, i did. The MSN Messenger Activity SDK was what i downloaded. Like a lot of people i uninstalled Windows Messenger and only use MSN. I see no point in using the windows messenger api, kinda useless to publish since so few use it. Except maybe companies internally, since you can setup your own windows messenger server (or so i have been told) and thereby not rely on MSN servers

• 

  The Windows Messenger allows you to interact with MSN Messenger much more than the activity SDK allows you. I would also uninstall Windows Messenger if I didn't have to use it in order to interact with MSN Messenger.
  
  I think that since many people uninstall Windows Messenger, it's a shame that there's no alternative to communicate with MSN Messenger except using the Activity SDK which is much more limited.

• 

  Hi,
  
  I want to build an interactive E-learning course. How can I put the materials in the MSN and retrieve the information by asking the questions as you did to ask about Geogre Bush.
  
  Thanks,
  /CC.

• 

  I don't understand you say there can be no adult content yet on the MSN directories adult content is permitted, with a conditional check, so why not for MSN plug-ins.
  
  I know a great service, a bit of fun, which would be considdered adult but is pretty much harmless. I am very sure it would be popular but your not going to give them the chance because of this stupid 'safe' idea that MSN Messenger should be.
  
  So when is it going to be lifted?
  
  Samuel, UK
  

• 

  A summary of the interview by a friend of mine who used to work with Scott.

  Here's a question!
  
  <scott starts talking for .5 seconds>
  
  Here's a sarcastic comment!
  
  <scott acknowledges comment and starts talking again for .5 seconds>
  
  Here's a lame non-sequitur...
  
  <scott rolls his eyes>

• 

  Hey you guys should check out the apps at http://www.worldsbestapp.com/ . some gooood stuff there i have to say  that goes on to show how people have integrated everythign from virtual earth and mappoint to games and coding utilities . the contest running had some neat prizes that uhmm.... ened yesterday (...which reminds me ,happy new year ! [A]  )
  
  Keep Cicking,
  Bhasker V K
  
  
  
  

• 

  Seen this, its 3D in messenger, why does messenger not have this?
  
  http://www.imvu.com/catalog/web_index.php
  
  
  Samuel, UK