iChat, MSN, Jabber - A big mess

So I thought it's time to solve the problem. Here in Sweden everyone uses MSN (except from some "geeks" who go with a way better alternative: Jabber). "So what?", you think, "all my friends use MSN too and there's no problem with that". As long as you stick with a Microsoft products - MSN and Windows - everything works pretty good, I agree. But here, on Mac OS X, although it exists, the MSN client from Microsoft sucks really bad. I'd like to compare it to...hum, let's say Windows Messenger version 4.5. You've got the text messaging. You've got emoicons. And...that's pretty much all. Well, there is some file transfer support, but it uses the old MSNP4 or maybe 5 (or maybe something else?), which means that the files are transfered via MSN's servers insteand of peer-to-peer as in the newer versions of the protocol. The result? Speeds like 4-5 kb/s. That worked in 1999 perhaps, but try sending a gillion-something megapixel photo image with it today. Add no support for all the new "cool" effects as well as no audio nor video support. That's the reality for Microsoft's official MSN client for Mac OS X, 2006. No wonder folks try to go different ways.

Yesterday I found this excellent tutorial which I had time to follow today. To sum up: it gives iChat (the default Mac OS X messenger client) an ability to connect to a MSN account via Jabber. I'm not going to get too technical here so if you want more detalies, just read the first paragraphs of the tutorial.

The result? I'm not sure, but it looks like everyone I ever had on my MSN contact list and everyone who ever had added me on their got notified about me adding them (requested authorization). Since I haven't changed MSN account since 1997 you can imagine how many people got affected.

I'd like to say sorry for the inconvenience, it was completely unintentional. I'm not blaming anyone, I just hope you all understand now that even if you are happy with Microsoft and their products, it is still concerns you whenever they can deliver quality products for all supported platforms (after all, MSN on Mac OS X is officially supported by Microsoft), or not.

Oh, and by the way, since MSN - like it or not - is the de-facto standard for IM in many countries, why can't Microsoft just open up the protocol? It's not like they are making any money on this... Or are they?

Showtime!

The Mando Diao show last night was great! The show was at a local club located in a basement so the whole thing wasn't too big which resulted in a special atmosphere inside, between the band and their fans. Mando played about 13 tracks (though I didn't count so this is probably wrong) from all three albums released so far. I had the feeling the volume of the show was at some moments to high. Or was just the place too small? Nevertheless, it was a fun night well worth the money spent!

Friday

Can't really get used to it: not even 7pm yet but already dark. Anyway, it's been a nice day, to a long walk on the beach with Jeanette. I have to say that although we're already in the middle of October, it doesn't feel like fall. It was still warm in the air (even if the water was colder, I guess) and I was totally comfortable wearing only a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. We even saw a nude guy sun bathing! (Not the most pleasant sight I must admit...)

Now we're getting ready for a concert this night, Mando Diao is in town. More on this later!

First post

End of a long and busy day. Trying out a new Blogger widget for OS X which I found on Google's Mac-site . Not much to add for now, so I'm just going to post this now. Bye!