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David Overton's Blog » Windows Live Messenger (was MSN Messenger) is now released, final and ready
Windows Live Messenger (was MSN Messenger) is now released, final and ready

Do you IM people?  Do you want to share files with them, have voice and video conversations, even call from your PC to a real phone at the end?

Then Windows Live Messenger is for you.  Get it at http://messenger.live.com.  From the website:

  • Call their phones. Call their PCs.

    Call your friends' mobile or landline phones. It's great value within the UK or internationally. And calling someone's PC is always free.

  • See them on the screen

    Show and tell: get a webcam and start a video conversation within minutes.

  • Share stuff

    Set up a Sharing Folder with a friend. Drop in photos and other stuff, as much as your computer can handle. See it even when one of you is offline.

  • A network of millions

    Tap into the world's largest IM network, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide.

  • Soon: talk to your Yahoo! friends, too

    Soon you'll be able to use Windows Live Messenger to talk to your friends who use Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. The world's largest IM network is getting even bigger.

ttfn

David

Posted Thu, Jun 22 2006 7:00 AM by David Overton
Filed under: ,

Comments

iQubed wrote re: Windows Live Messenger (was MSN Messenger) is now released, final and ready
on Thu, Jun 22 2006 11:12 AM
Hi Dave,

What's your take on using this technology in a small business environment?

Cheers,

Vijay
David Overton wrote re: Windows Live Messenger (was MSN Messenger) is now released, final and ready
on Thu, Jun 22 2006 10:47 PM
Vijay,

this is one of those questions where the answer is a depends

Two types of situations to consider:
1) Things Windows Live Messenger does
- All messages go unencrpyted over the internet
- No security to ensure people are from the right organisation
- Less options for communicating with other IM providers
- Free and functional
2) Things Windows Live Messenger does not offer
- Auditing of messages
- Policy control of who, what where and when
- Encryption of messages
- Unified communications, such as VoIP
- Ability to house servers internally

Having said all this, price sometime comes into the equation.  For the things that Messenger does not provide the answer may well be Live Communication Server.  While this is not the cheapest, it may be available via SPLA licensing, making the cost a few pounds per user per month, which if one of the other requirements are key, it could make it a vital sell.

The Windows Live Messenger is a sound product and once the right considerations have been made, LCS or WLM should show themselves out.

ttfn

David

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