Subscribe to our RSS feed to get the latest news posts from Messenger Stuff.Microsoft: don't blame us for YouTube block on Messenger
on Mon 12 May 2008 (16:05 GMT)
on Mon 12 May 2008 (16:05 GMT)
Although it doesn't always seem like it, the Windows Live Messenger team like to take care of their customers. Getting someone in at the weekend to remove a stupid message block and now explaining what went wrong.
Dharmesh Mehta, a lead on the Windows Live Messenger product management team who's emerging as something of a regular poster at MessengerSays (the official Windows Live Messenger team blog), has given an apology and some details of why YouTube was blocked for several hours last weekend.
The main things that worry me about what is said here are:
- one, how much of our messages are this third party seeing - there are severe privacy issues surrounding this, do the company only get sent URLs that appear in messages or all of our messages? how much control does Microsoft have over this? and why if "manually checking the URL" happens did someone still think to block YouTube.com?;
- and two, why does it take an uproar like this to get a website "unblocked" - while other legitimate websites are still blocked.
>> Post at "Inside Windows Live Messenger" blog (aka MessengerSays)
>> Send the Messenger team feedback
Dharmesh Mehta, a lead on the Windows Live Messenger product management team who's emerging as something of a regular poster at MessengerSays (the official Windows Live Messenger team blog), has given an apology and some details of why YouTube was blocked for several hours last weekend.
As some of you noticed, we had a problem from Friday night to Saturday morning where our Messenger service was incorrectly blocking some legitimate IP addresses. We sincerely apologize for any difficulties this caused our users. And we want to thank those of you that reported this problem to us so that we could quickly fix it. Because of your help, the incorrect block was only in place for a few hours.
As you can imagine, we are very serious about our efforts to block virus, malware and other harmful URLs from being passed on to our users. And we're continually working to improve this process so that we can keep our users safe without having a negative impact on your Messenger service.
There have been some pretty outlandish speculations on what happened so I'd like to give you some facts about our process for trying to block unsafe URLs and about what happened Friday night:
As always, we're open to feedback on how to make Messenger an even greater service. And again, our apologies to the users that were impacted by this.
As you can imagine, we are very serious about our efforts to block virus, malware and other harmful URLs from being passed on to our users. And we're continually working to improve this process so that we can keep our users safe without having a negative impact on your Messenger service.
There have been some pretty outlandish speculations on what happened so I'd like to give you some facts about our process for trying to block unsafe URLs and about what happened Friday night:
- There are a number of factors that can be used to determine whether a URL is potentially harmful: number of times a URL is sent, the frequency of the URL being sent, the number of accounts the URL is sent from, manually checking the URL, comparing with other "block lists", etc.
- When a URL is deemed harmful, a block can be instated for a specific URL (i.e. www.
.com/ ) or an entire domain (i.e. *. .com) - This entire process for Messenger is managed by a 3rd party that is a Microsoft partner
- On Friday, Microsoft did not request to block any of the URLs that were accidentally blocked
The blocks were made by our partner as a result of their process to block harmful URLs - We are still investigating the specific reason our partner made these incorrect blocks and we will work with them to improve their process for detecting harmful URLs while not blocking safe ones
As always, we're open to feedback on how to make Messenger an even greater service. And again, our apologies to the users that were impacted by this.
The main things that worry me about what is said here are:
- one, how much of our messages are this third party seeing - there are severe privacy issues surrounding this, do the company only get sent URLs that appear in messages or all of our messages? how much control does Microsoft have over this? and why if "manually checking the URL" happens did someone still think to block YouTube.com?;
- and two, why does it take an uproar like this to get a website "unblocked" - while other legitimate websites are still blocked.
>> Post at "Inside Windows Live Messenger" blog (aka MessengerSays)
>> Send the Messenger team feedback
Zune 2.5 + WLM (finally) = now playing integration
on Sun 11 May 2008 (18:19 GMT)
on Sun 11 May 2008 (18:19 GMT)
Just a quick note to let you know that the recently updated Zune software now supports Windows Live Messenger's "show what I'm listening to" personal message feature.
If you're fed up with you computer's media player looking like a spreadsheet or want to try something fresh for your music, pictures and videos then I thoroughly recommend giving the Zune software a try.
Whether you have a Zune device or not (which is more likely to be the case due to its current US exclusivity) you can give version 2.5 of the software a try for all your basic media player features and a lot more, including social features, marketplace integration and a great interface.
>> Download or find out more about the Zune software
If you're fed up with you computer's media player looking like a spreadsheet or want to try something fresh for your music, pictures and videos then I thoroughly recommend giving the Zune software a try.
Whether you have a Zune device or not (which is more likely to be the case due to its current US exclusivity) you can give version 2.5 of the software a try for all your basic media player features and a lot more, including social features, marketplace integration and a great interface.
>> Download or find out more about the Zune software
The nail in the coffin: Messenger blocks links to YouTube
on Sat 10 May 2008 (12:58 GMT)
on Sat 10 May 2008 (12:58 GMT)
Censoring messages is nothing new for Windows Live Messenger. It was introduced as a security measure and blocked websites leading to various viruses that were spreading across the network. This was of course a good idea, in the years that notorious viruses plagued users these measures were necessary and the system appeared to have worked.
However, implemention of the system was criticized as it slowed down conversations due to its sloppy programming. Using phrases like '.pif' would end group conservations, paving the way for hijacking multi-conservations your friends were trying to have.
However it was when Microsoft blocked all .info domains being sent over the network that the system came under heavy scrutiny. Then the andyman discovered the list of blocked strings and websites within Messenger, including services that were found clean and virus free. In recent weeks links were blocked to the hit web messenger eBuddy.
Now Fanatic Live have discovered links to YouTube have now been blocked. The reason? We're not sure, but the website has nothing to do with viruses or any other security issues.
With all the talk of net neutrality and criticisms over countries blocking access to the website this is going to portray Microsoft in a bad light. Moreover as YouTube is owned by Google one could question weather Microsoft is trying to create direct competition with their new video service Soapbox. Microsoft have just received a $1.4bn fine for their anti-competitive behavior.
The worrying thing, however, is that this is probably not the end ...
However, implemention of the system was criticized as it slowed down conversations due to its sloppy programming. Using phrases like '.pif' would end group conservations, paving the way for hijacking multi-conservations your friends were trying to have.
However it was when Microsoft blocked all .info domains being sent over the network that the system came under heavy scrutiny. Then the andyman discovered the list of blocked strings and websites within Messenger, including services that were found clean and virus free. In recent weeks links were blocked to the hit web messenger eBuddy.
Now Fanatic Live have discovered links to YouTube have now been blocked. The reason? We're not sure, but the website has nothing to do with viruses or any other security issues.
With all the talk of net neutrality and criticisms over countries blocking access to the website this is going to portray Microsoft in a bad light. Moreover as YouTube is owned by Google one could question weather Microsoft is trying to create direct competition with their new video service Soapbox. Microsoft have just received a $1.4bn fine for their anti-competitive behavior.
The worrying thing, however, is that this is probably not the end ...
Open Live: A must have skinning resource
on Tue 06 May 2008 (20:42 GMT)
on Tue 06 May 2008 (20:42 GMT)
Willz is at it again. Nope not another skin, but something more interesting. Although Messenger Plus! Live has made skinning significantly easier, there is still a learning curve in the skill and finding what resources do what can be a chore. Open Live changes that; in many ways it is a skin that provides a blueprint for other skinners to work on:
This is yet another step forward in skinning Windows Live Messenger.
>> Download Open Live
>> Visit the official website
Skinning Windows Live Messenger has never been an easy task. Most people struggle to understand what is going on when you make and skin and do not know where to start. I created open live to try and help those new skinners out and to give experienced skinners something to save them a bit of time.
Open Live is a special version of Windows Live Messenger 8.5 that has been edited to make a skinners life a lot easier. The key features of open live are as follows:
Open Live is a special version of Windows Live Messenger 8.5 that has been edited to make a skinners life a lot easier. The key features of open live are as follows:
- No MSNRLE images, all images are normal png, jpg, bmp, ico and gif
- Easy one line edits for things such as text colors and spacing of buttons
- All images are named and labeled to show what they do and are also in organized folders
- Comes with guide images and source images for animations and those tricky images
- Comes with pre-made and pre-translated options and about windows
This is yet another step forward in skinning Windows Live Messenger.
>> Download Open Live
>> Visit the official website
New version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Beta
on Thu 01 May 2008 (20:02 GMT)
on Thu 01 May 2008 (20:02 GMT)
Yahoo! Messenger for Vista, the version of Yahoo! Messenger designed specifically for Windows Vista using its interface technologies, was first released to beta at the end of last year. The first new version since then has now been released.
The main improvement is the addition of much-requested audio chat features. This includes the usual PC to PC calls and PC to phone calls, as well as cool visualisation effects that match you and your contact's voices when you speak.
Along with this there have been general speed and stability improvements, the ability to send "free" SMS messages to mobile phones has been added, and there is a new email alerts feature.
>> Source: Yahoo! Messenger blog
>> Download Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Beta (direct download link)
>> Official Yahoo! Messenger for Vista site
The main improvement is the addition of much-requested audio chat features. This includes the usual PC to PC calls and PC to phone calls, as well as cool visualisation effects that match you and your contact's voices when you speak.
Along with this there have been general speed and stability improvements, the ability to send "free" SMS messages to mobile phones has been added, and there is a new email alerts feature.
>> Source: Yahoo! Messenger blog
>> Download Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Beta (direct download link)
>> Official Yahoo! Messenger for Vista site