Quick questions. The wife and the daughter want MSN Messenger installed so that the g-kid and the g-ma can wave at each other.
Does this cost anything to use? Or is it free? Any particular problems with it? Looks like it requires Passport. What in hell is that?
I’ve already got Skype. Would that be better to use?
In
Yes, it’s free. But Skype is better. Tell them to goddamn well get Skype…
But Passpaort is simply the Microsoft Web Portal that keeps all your details in one place. You know, in case for some unknown reason you want to use anything else that MS has to offer…
DK
Come to think of it, I should get your Skype address off you…
DK
Skype’s video call service is free. It’s a bit jittery if you’ve got a slow internet connection, but it’s quite good as you can always turn it off and just use it as a normal phone call. And it’s all free.
The only problem is that you need an XP computer and it has to be reasonably quick, though anything over 1 ghz seems ok.
I tend to use the iChat AV but both needs Macs.
Passport, as DK says, is just the MSN “portal” (I don’t understand all the jargon), so if you have a Hotmail address you can automatically “chat” with other Hotmail users on your contacts list in more-or-less real time. It’s free and pretty easy to use, as I recall (a couple of years since I’ve done so).
I believe there are better such services about, though.
Google chat is fine. (MySpace is obviously the favoured for teens)
Messenger is very handy for sending and receiving files. They will be able to send photos to each other. I reccommend you have both Messenger and Skype.
Skype is a great tool if you want other people to use your bandwidth without your knowledge or approval.
If you have unlimited bandwidth then you may not be bothered by this, but if you have a download and/or upload limit then you may wish to avoid skype.
I’d use Google Chat
I use both, Skype is a good system for free or very cheap calls and does many of the things MSN does. However, MSN has some functions that Skype does not. For example, if you want to help someone with computer problems over a great distance, MSN lets you “take control” (with XP anyway). MSN does not let you call other phone lines though, so I tend to use Skype mostly. Hope that helps.
MSN Messenger is free to use and easy to register for. You do NOT need a hotmail address, you can use any address. Follow this link, and you can choose to either create a hotmail account or use an existing account with any email provider. If using an existing email address, all you need to do is type it in and create an MSN password. Don’t know if it does video messaging though.
https://accountservices.passport.net/ppnetworkhome.srf?lc=1033
With a broadband connection, MSN is pretty useful. And since, like most MS products, it lowest comon denominator oriented it is pretty easy to use for voice and video chatting, at least on broadband.
Skype seems to get through company firewalls, MSN is often blocked. To use video on Skype you both need the latest update.
it will ruin your daughter’s life by wasting inordinate amounts of time even though she will enjoy it and you may have to prise her fingernails off the computer every night!
don’t do it!
(father of 14-year old…)
Tim adds: It’s rather more my wife I’m worried about, the amount of time she’ll spend gazing ather granddaughter. But I take the point.
And if you do use MSN Messenger, and particularly especially if you want to use the “take control” thingy (XP only…), make damned sure that both machines have a good personal firewall in place.
And by good personal firewall, I mean specifically ZoneAlarm. The free version is fine.
Being a fellow expat, I use both these services to keep in touch with the family back ‘ome.
You can have a video conversation with both Skype and MSN, but the former must be two-way, i.e. both have cameras installed. MSN works if only one has a camera (and the other must have a voice only conversation).
Both support voice conversations, but I have found the quality of Skype to be much better for this than MSN.
If you’re after a webcam, I can recommend the Logitech Pro 4000. Also, using a USB headset improves quality somewhat as it prevents feedback issues. But you do look a bit of a tool when you wear it.
Tim,
If you have a teenage daughter she will waste hours ‘chatting’ to her friends. The inanity of the messages will only be exceeded by the difficulty in prising her away from the keyboard.
Skype. Use it all the time and the video and audio is much better than MSN presumeably because they have millions of people using their servers to chat whilst Skype do not (yet). MSN has annoying messages and ADVERTS as well…damm them, damm them all…………..
I use both Skype and MSN Messenger to videoconference with my parents. We prefer the quality and reliability of Skype. (Both are free.)
Headsets with microphones help reduce feedback and make it a much more pleasant experience. I have a Sennheiser headset which is excellent.
The only thing I’d beware of with Messenger is your child or one of his/her friends giving their id/hotmail address to someone else.
The kids all used it for a while but daddy got twitchy when complete strangers (‘online friends of online friends’) started joining the conversation. Caveat user – there are some dodgy people out there and some of them are school age.
(Conversations are logged, or if not it can be switched on, so you can check what the little darlings/wife are up to !)
passport basically is what you get with a free Hotmail account. Ghastly service, chock with ads and doesn’t save sent mail.
When you sign into hotmail you’re signing into passport.
I have MSN installed, but hate it. I only have it because it seems most of my friends use it, and for some organising things it seems essential.
It’s becoming the “norm”, and the default IM platform; S. Korea was going to serve M$ with an anti-trust style thing for shipping it pre-installed on PCs, to <25 Koreans, e-mail is what old people use.
Also, you can register it with any email address that exists and gets to you, I used a spare from one of my domains so it was less obvious. Registering with an MSN or hotmail address just shows how un-savvy you are 😉
Hate it, still, but that’s a generic “what’s wrong with email” thing.
Avoid MSN. It’s a typical lousily designed cluttered application from MS with ads, that from time to time displays messages “service temporarily unavailable” or smthg along those lines. Also, I’d like to get a few facts right as some people who have posted comments don’t seem to have a slightest clue of what they’re talking about.
Firstly, nbc’s claim that Skype uses your bandwith without your knowledge is a complete & utter bs. It doesn’t – only the routing information is passed along in a distributed way (that’s the P2P part), the actual traffic when on a call with somebody is strictly between the two persons.
Secondly, B’s Freak – if MSN is easy to use then Skype would be called intuitive even by 12 month olds.
Thirdly, Mr Newman – Skype doesn’t require that both have webcams, if only one has got it you can still have a one way video conversation – this is what I’ve been doing when webcamless grandma wants to see and talk to the with webcam grandchildren…
Fourthly, what I think Dave t wanted to convey here was the fact that Skype uses centralised servers only for storing directory information (so that one can access his contacts wherever he logs on to Skype) and doesn’t pass the actual voice or video traffic through those servers. MSN on the other hand does and hence the inherent disruptions with their service.
Fiftly, Skype encrypts everything, MSN? Riiight…
I signed up for passport but keep saying I have to confirm e-mail address but won’t put me on the right site. What now?
Leave a Reply