Windows Live Messenger with VoIP

V-man writes "Microsoft has just launched Windows Live Messenger with free PC-to-PC phone calls and PC-to-phone calling as a pay service provided by Verizon Web Calling. Of course, most people doing PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone calling are probably using Firefox...too bad the Launch Page isn't Mozilla friendly."

Of Course!

[mythosaz]

Of course, most people doing PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone calling are probably using Firefox

Of course? Says who. Slashdot, opinions from nerds.

Not Mozilla Friendly?

[Bluey]

too bad the Launch Page isn't Mozilla friendly.

What part isn't Mozilla friendly? I just went to the launch page with Firefox 1.5.0.4 and was able to navigate through the tabs and download the installer with no problem.

Solution looking for a problem.

[Tackhead]

Actually, it's worse than that. It's a bunch of crappy business plans and licensing arrangements looking for a solution looking for a problem.

It's VOIP! And instead of bypassing the telco, it requires a telco! And instead of working on every computer, it only works on Windows computers. And instead of being free, it costs money! And instead of working with every IM system, it only works with MSN! And instead of rendering it in HTML, we decided to give Adobe/Macromedia a cut and do the whole web page in Flash!

About all it's missing is a .us domain name for Web 2.0 buzzword compliance.

Firefox?

[Anonymous Coward]

"...most people doing PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone calling are probably using Firefox..."

Oh? Where did you dig up this little nugget of information?

Two points: 1) not only über-geeks are doing PC-to-PC calling. 2) Lots of über-geeks actually use IE.

Am I wrong or

[notBowen]

Doesn't Skype do this pretty damn well already?

Re:Solution looking for a problem.

[Frosty Piss]

Don't like it? Don't use it. Not everyone shares your objections. Not everyone hates every single implimentation of Flash. Some people have no issues with Windows. There are other solutions out there for you. This one is not for you.

Re:Am I wrong or

[jonging]

It certainly does. This is an example of software piracy at its worse.

Offline Messaging

[gen0c1de]

Umm, I don't think this is a new feature as ICQ has had this ability for years. Congrats Microsoft for finally making it to 1998. Too bad ICQ was bought my AOL as it was the IM of choice back in the day.

How long will that last?

[Anonymous Coward]

Talk about giving away the razors for free...

Re:Am I wrong or

[almostmanda]

It does. And, in the case of PC-to-Phone, it does it for a much lower price (US and Canada = free)

No, but...

[helmutvs]

So, are you saying competition is a bad thing?

Come on. This is nothing but good for the VoIP industry. With this, Google Talk, YIM, and Skype (and others, I'm sure) having voice capabilities, each must compete to be the best. Who wins? The consumer.

FUD

[Frankie70]

A guy at work installed it on a trials machine, and that machine suffered weird problems. It could release, obtain, and renew a DHCP address, but couldn't ping anything, not even the gateway (which is also the switch that does the DHCP stuff).
He rolled the system back, and it all works.

There is a lot of different stuff on that machine though, so it **might** not be just due to that. I wonder if it hooks into the IP stack at some level, and that's what messed it up? Anyone else have any similar issues with it?


Parent post is a probably a textbook definition of FUD.

Um, no...

[GotenXiao]

Maybe if you were using a non-MS OS you'd be complaining... cause it doesn't work here.

And people (read: me) complain about Macrodobe and their shitty software...