Windows Live Messenger provides a great deal of freedom in how you can communicate and with whom, but I’m sure we all know people that like to push the boundaries of Messenger-etiquette…

Here’s a quick look the top 5 Messenger etiquette offenders:

1. The YELLERS	CAPS-LOCK IS APPARENTLY ALWAYS ON FOR THESE USERS AND THEY HAVE A STRONG AFFINITY FOR THE EXCLAIMATION MARK!!!  REGARDLESS OF THE TOPIC, YOU CAN COUNT ON A LOUD RESPONSE!!!
2. Emoticon overload
3. Indecisive typers	That’s what it looks like when I ask my co-worker Alfons a question on Messenger.  He’s either slow, indecisive or both.  Either way, I’m sure we all know someone like this.  The best part is that after 5 minutes all you get is a one word answer. :p
4. Status Ignorers	Your status is set to busy and your message says  “DND – Do Not Disturb.  Delivering a mission critical demo or presentation.”  Not only will a Status Ignorer disregard your message and IM you anyways, but they also tend to start their conversations off with a less than ideal sentence such as: “HeY DuDe, R we going Partying all wknd again?” …which of course, everyone in your demo/presentation will see.
5. Never ending chat	These are typically people that you genuinely care about, an old friend, your mom/dad, a long lost relative etc… You have a great 30 minute chat, which then drags into a 3 hour chat.  Every time you say '”bye”, they start a new topic or ask you a question. This is somewhat parallel to the co-worker who keeps talking to you, even as you leave their office.  Then you have to come back and as ‘what was that?’… they tell you, then you try to leave again, and they again keep talking to you…

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE AND HOW YOU WOULD DEAL WITH THEM.  I’ll write up another post down the road that integrates all of your wisdom along with some of my own thoughts. :)  Just post a comment.

On that topic, as we continue to lead up to the 10th Anniversary of Windows Live Messenger, here are 2 GREAT stories submitted by our user’s about what NOT to do… I was LOL the first time I read them.  Enjoy and thanks Jonathan and Tariq.

Jonathan (UK): The Invention of Group Chat (and Group Feedback)

“A couple of years ago, a new middle manager started working in my department. For the first couple of weeks he didn't make the greatest impression. He looked like he was falling asleep in meetings and generally looked fairly uninterested.

I found out that he'd come from a company that a good friend of mine works for, so I opened up a chat with my friend on Messenger to see if he knew this guy and what he thought of him. I said about the falling asleep in meetings and other negative things that had been discussed around the cooler about him.

My friend said that he didn't know the guy personally, but that some of the 80+ people that he was sharing his screen with in an internal conference obviously did because they were falling about laughing!”

Jonathan, UK

Tariq (USA/Brazil): Not the best Way to introduce a Girl Friend to Mom

“Junior year of high-school my Brazilian girlfriend, Marina, moved back  to Brazil with her family. We used messenger video chat to keep in touch every week (as we do to this day – she is my best friend still).

One day, after a lot of deliberation, she decided to get a tattoo and pinged me excited to show it off. So we opened up a video chat session. The tattoo, a red tropical flower that wrapped around her left side, was hard to see with the shirt she had on so she took it off to provide a better view.

Naturally, my mother walked in at that moment to see an extremely embarrassed, shirtless Marina on my monitor. I reacted the only way I knew how, “Mom, have you met Marina?”. We laugh about the encounter to this day.”

Tariq, USA/Brazil

Thanks again to everyone that submitted a story.  We’ll continue to post them leading up the big 10th anniversary day (July 22nd) so continue to check back.

Today’s Fun 10th Anniversary Fact:  The average chat session is 5 mins long. In the US, chat sessions tend to be shorter with an average 4 mins, while people in China take on average 8 mins for each of their sessions.

Interesting… so where is my father counted in this??? (My dad is a ‘Never ending chatter"’)… :)

Thanks for reading.
The Windows Live Messenger Team

As we mentioned last week, Windows Live Messenger is turning 10 very soon and as part of our celebration, we will be sharing, here on our blog, different stories from our users, tips/tricks and fun facts, leading up to big day, July 22nd 2009.  We’ll also have special guest posts from people that work on Messenger and from around the community.  It’s going to be a great month so stay tuned.

Today’s Fun Factoid
If Windows Live Messenger was a country, it would be the third largest country in the world (behind China and India, and before the United States) and almost 10 times the size of Canada.

Today’s Messenger user story
Thanks everyone for the stories.  We’ve gotten an overwhelming number of funny, touching and odd stories and there is still time to submit one.  If you want to share your story and let others participate in your special moment with Messenger, please send your short story in English to IloveMessenger@live.com by June 28th.

Our first story comes from Clem from Canada.

“I had just met a really cute girl and we started exchanging IMs on Windows Live Messenger.  Even though we were on IM, I was still pretty nervous (yes, lame i know) but of course, tried to keep it cool.  Things seemed like they were going pretty well and we chatted for a little while until she said she had to go, to work on a finance homework problem that she was stuck on.  Being the helpful guy that I am, I offered to help… (limited finance knowledge, but hey, I had to try).  She sent me the problem over IM and I was in luck, a good friend of mine, Jon, was online.  He’d know the answer.  Quickly, I drafted the IM…

“Yo Jon, I’m trying hard to impress this really cute girl I just met, do you have a moment to help me figure out the answer to a finance problem so I can send it on to her.  You need to help me out, she is so hot!”

…then hit send.  It would probably take him a moment to respond, so I went back to the conversation with the girl… I read the last message and saw my message to Jon posted there… oh I guess I hadn’t switched windows, so I doubled checked… and that’s when I realized that I had posted that message to HER instead of Jon by accident.  My jaw hit the ground and stomach fell out.  I can’t really explain how embarrassed I was, and although I didn’t look in the mirror, I could feel my face heat up and I’m sure I was glowing with embarrassment like a tomato…

I didn’t know what to do… I wished you guys had built in an ‘undo’ at that point. :)  All I saw from her end was ‘Jen is typing’… but no message… then ‘Jen is typing’ but no words… that went on for about 4-5 minutes, then finally, she said something like “I have to go to bed, bye” and went offline.

We actually ended up becoming friends but nothing beyond that.  We never mentioned that ‘incident’, but my friends still get a good kick out of telling the story to people (yes, I have great friends) ;).  Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that and keep up the great work.”

I actually LOL’ed when I read that the first time.  Thanks for sharing Clem.  I bet many of us have done something similar. :)

Tip/Trick – Create your own custom emoticon
Did you know you can make your own emoticons from your own photos/images?  This has been around for a little while and is a nice way to be creative and have some fun in Messenger.  Here’s how.

	Step 1 – Click on the ‘Show Menu’ button Step 2 – Click ‘Tools’ Step 3 – Click ‘Emoticons’ Now the Emoticon window will pop up.
	Step 4 – Click ‘Create’ Step 5 – Pick a photo/image to use. *Note: it can be a bmp, jpg, png or even an animated gif. Step 6 – Type the keys that you want to use to bring up the emoticon.  In this case I’ve picked ‘woof’ because it’s a picture of my dog.  *Notes: You can pick any keys you’d like.  Just make sure it’s not something you type too often or it will keep appearing in your sentences. :) When you are done hit OK.
	Step 7 – Now scroll down to see your ‘Custom emoticons’ Step 8 – Your emoticon now shows up and you can use it.
	I open a chat with Dharmesh, since he loves dogs and I send him the emoticon just by typing ‘woof’.  Once it shows up in his conversation window, he can right click and add it to his collection. Have fun.

Thanks for reading.

The Windows Live Messenger Team

Wow, who would have thought that it has been almost 10 years since Messenger was launched. Windows Live Messenger (called MSN Messenger back then) was released to the public on a warm, sunny Seattle day on July 22nd 1999.

With more than 330 million active users every month, Windows Live Messenger has grown quite a bit over the last 10 years! But for a 10 year celebration it’s not all about the numbers – even more important is how Messenger enabled friendships, changed lives or just brought a lot of fun to a quick chat with a good friend or family member.

We want to learn about those very personal stories and moments and we would ask you to share your story with us. What was your funniest, most unexpected or most emotional moment with Messenger? If you have a great story and you would like to share it with others, please send it to us! Please note that we will publish the best anecdotes in our Windows Live Messenger marketing or public relations communications. Of course we will do that anonymously, only mentioning your first name and home country (and maybe a related picture if you decide to add one).

If you want to share your story and let others participate in your special moment with Messenger, please send your short story in English to IloveMessenger@live.com by June 28th. Please add your first name and home country – you can also add a related photo if you like. We will share the best stories during the month of July, right here on the blog.

We’re looking forward to reading your personal Messenger story!

The Windows Live Messenger Team

Disclaimer:

By submitting your Messenger story and/or photo you agree that your entry only includes material that you own, or that you have permission from the copyright/trademark owner to use.  By submitting your entry, you agree to allow your entry, in its entirety, to be exhibited on the internet and in other media, without compensation.  You further agree to allow your first name, likeness and country to be used in connection with your entry, including exhibition on the internet or in other media, without compensation.

Earlier today, Messenger customers may have received an instant message that looked like this:

We sincerely apologize, but this was accidentally sent out.  If you received this notification today, please ignore it.  You will be able to continue to use your current e-mail address, and there is no reason to make any changes.

These service notifications are only used for urgent issues but unfortunately, somebody made a mistake that caused this message to be sent out.  We will definitely be reviewing our process to make sure we avoid such mistakes in the future.

If you have already clicked the link, there is no harm to you.  You should have been told that your “Windows Live ID can’t be changed at this time” because there is no need for the change.

Again, we’re very sorry for any confusion that may have been caused. 

- Windows Live Messenger Team

We all know that it is sometimes difficult to understand the intent of an instant message without hearing the tone or seeing a person's facial expressions.  This is particularly difficult for sarcastic people who have to constantly rely on adding smiley face emoticons to the ends of their sentences.

Automatically determining a user's mood is something we've always heard as being important for Windows Live Messenger but knew that the technology was years away from being ready.  In WLM 2009, we even took a nice first step introducing Dynamic Photos, which let you manually associate a photo with an emoticon/mood.

We're happy to announce that due to the great breakthroughs from Microsoft Research, we have an alpha version working that monitors your real-time physiological state and translates that into a mood (happy, sad, anxious, etc), such that you would never have to enter an emoticon again.  At the core of this technology is the patented Human Attitude Heuristic Algorithm, which uses simple instruments, such as a body heat monitor, webcam and keypad pressure sensor to automatically determine your mood and appropriately insert emoticons/phrases directly into your IM conversations… saving you both time and energy.

Here's an example that currently works on the alpha prototype we have in the lab.  Using facial tracking technology, Messenger would know that you were laughing at a joke and appropriately place an  emoticon into the conversation.  If you stuck out your tongue, we could track that and type a for you.  If you laughed out loud, your laugh would be picked up by the mic on the webcam and immediately the text 'lol' would be inserted.  If your laugh exceeded the threshold of 95 decibels (~Subway Train at 200ft), you would see 'LOL!’ instead.  If you fell out of your chair and were laughing hysterically on the ground… we would insert ‘ROFLMAO’… and so on.

With the special keypad sensor we can also measure the speed and pressure you exert while typing, which can translate into a relaxed or angry state.  The sensor pad has not yet been integrated but you can expect that we'll have a release with full Automatic Mood Detection support, by early April 2010.

Hope you are as excited as I am about this new feature! <- (this was inserted automatically)  Let us know what you think.

[Note added: April 3rd]
Happy April Fools Day!  It was great to see the light hearted responses and also to see that this is a feature that some people might actually like. :)  From now on, only real features will be discussed... until maybe next April 1st. ;)

Thanks,
 
Lonn
Windows Live Messenger Team

We've noticed a few questions from users about the changes to the Sharing Folders functionality in the new version of Windows Live Messenger and thought it was a good time to post a follow-up to our initial December posting.

Background
The Sharing Folders functionality was removed in Windows Live Messenger 2009 and replaced with integrated access to Windows Live SkyDrive.  If you are interested in reading more about the changes, here’s a link to the full post from December: Sharing Files with Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live SkyDrive.

What's different?

• You can now share files in the following ways:
  • Publically
  • Only to pre-defined/custom group of people
  • or just with your contact.

You have full control over the permissions of the file(s) you share.

• In the past, files would only synchronize when both users were online.  Now, when you publish files to Windows Live Skydrive, those files upload right away and are accessible whenever your contact logs in, without having to worry about syncing.
• If you are on vacation or on a computer where Messenger is not installed, as long as you have a web browser and an internet connection you can still sign in with your Live ID and get to your files.

What is the same?
You can still transfer files in real-time with a contact who is online.  That has not changed at all.

What happens to my Sharing Folders when I upgrade to the new Windows Live Messenger?

Nothing, your files will not be deleted or last.  When you upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 2009 you will see a prompt the first time you try to access/view or publish files online explaining the change and a link to your folder.  A shortcut is also created for you, and placed in the Documents folder. If you do not have Sharing Folder files locally on the machine you are signing in on, you will not see a migration dialog.

If you still can't find your files, you can look here:

<AppDataLocal>\Microsoft\Messenger\<User Sign In Email>\Sharing Folders\

For example:
C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Messenger\MyAccount@live.com\Sharing Folders\

If you are still having problems finding your files, make sure that you are actually on the same machine that had the files on them locally.  Several users have mentioned that were still having problems finding their files.  Please keep in mind that, it's likely in this scenario, that the files had never been synchronized to that specific machine, even though you may have had a sharing relationship with that contact.  If that is the case, you'll have to go to the machine that has the files on them locally.

Thanks,
The Windows Live Messenger Team

Dharmesh talks about this in more detail on the Windows Live Team Blog, but I thought it was cool enough for a quick MessengerSays specific post. :)

This week at Mix09 we released the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit which are controls and libraries that connect people who use Windows Live Messenger together no matter where they are from the browser to anywhere Windows Live Messenger runs (PC, Phone, Xbox and Mac).

In other words, we’ve made it very easy to integrate Windows Live Messenger directly into a website using only a few lines of javascript.  Not only does this help make the surfing experience more social, it means that as long as you have a web browser and internet connection, you can still have a great Windows Live Messenger experience.

Here’s a screenshot of the web bar.  You’ll notice that your full contact list and categories are available, you can chat with multiple people at once and you have all your favorite emoticons handy.

The team has done a great job with this and I predict that we will begin to see this toolkit being used on more and more websites going forward.

There is a lot more information on the Messenger Developer blog and I encourage you to head over there if you’d like to learn more about how to add this to your site.

Lastly, here’s a video of Keiji and Steve on stage at Mix09.  Where they show how to add IM to a site with the Windows Live Messenger Library and UI Controls.  We also have an Interactive SDK which allows you to code and learn at the same time.

Have fun with it.
Lonn
Windows Live Messenger

Last week, 1500 of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) from around the world descended on Microsoft Campus, here in Redmond, Washington, for the annual MVP Summit. Among those were MVPs on technologies ranging from .NET and Silverlight, to Zune and Windows Live.

Taken from the MVP site:

Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) are exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who are awarded for voluntarily sharing their high quality, real world expertise in offline and online technical communities. Microsoft MVPs are a highly select group of experts that represents the technical community's best and brightest, and they share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

The Windows Live Messenger team held several sessions with Windows Live MVPs throughout the week to hear their thoughts on the latest version and anything else that was on their mind.  We had some great discussions and appreciate the preparation that the MVPs did in advance to help facilitate productive meetings.

After a breakout session on Wednesday afternoon, we were able to sit a few of them down in a room and catch some of their comments on video. Here's a video of our quick chat with Jonathan (Canada), Kurt (Belgium) and Chris (Netherlands).

The level of dedication and passion these guys have for the product is only out matched by their passion to help people. On behalf of Windows Live we thank Jonathan, Kurt, Chris and all the other Windows Live MVPs for the great work they do.  If you are a passionate user and love to help people, you can learn more about the MVP program here: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/.

Sincerely,

- Lonn, Sameer, Marisol
- Windows Live Messenger

p.s. Sameer and Marisol have a cameo in the video… ‘Hi’ :)

The latest version of Windows Live Messenger (14.0.8064.0206) is now available for free download here.

Over the next month, if you’re still running versions 8.1 or 8.5, you’ll get a prompt encouraging you to upgrade to the latest version of Windows Live Messenger. If you accept the optional upgrade, the installer will launch and start your free upgrade.

While Messenger is installing, you’ll be given the option to install other new applications that are part of our suite of Windows Live Essentials. You can click each program to get more info about it before you decide which ones you want, but they’re all great additions to your Windows PC, and they are all free.

And if you already have older versions of any of these programs installed (ex. Windows Live Mail, Photo Gallery, or Toolbar), they’ll be automatically upgraded to their latest versions along with Messenger.

There are tons of new features and improvements in the new, 2009 version, and we really hope you’ll try it out. From improved video and audio calls, to new “favorite” contacts, dynamic display pictures, and a fast and easy new way to share photos, we’ve worked hard to bring you the best release of Windows Live Messenger yet. So good that it got the Editor’s Choice Award from PC Magazine!  If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this demo of the new version of Messenger:

Try it out and let us know what you think, either here in comments, or through our feedback site at http://feedback.live.com.

All the best,
- Sameer, Lonn and the Windows Live Team

P.S. If you have difficulty signing in to Messenger after the upgrade, please visit http://messenger-support.spaces.live.com/.
For help with webcam connectivity in Messenger, see this blog post: http://messenger-support.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8B3F39C76A8B853F!14323.entry

Posted by Sameer

Some users seem to be getting an error 8100030d when they try signing into Windows Live Messenger, in some cases after they have upgraded to the latest version. This error can be caused if the cache files get corrupted and the solution is to simply delete the cache.

Click the following link for complete troubleshooting instructions for this error http://messenger-support.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8B3F39C76A8B853F!13937.entry. (Special thanks to Jonathan)