EDIT 3rd July 06

Haha, title edited to ‘M$ FAIL to Strike Back! From that you can probably work out what happened. No one was having it, sorry this topic really amuses me for some reason (i.e. the ideologies behind this ridiculous idea).

If you don’t know what was going on, basically M$ come out saying they’re going to change their WGA (windows genuine advantage) tool in the next release so that it checks if your using a legal version of windows and sends that back to them, and then shuts you out after a period of time. As if this wouldn’t be cracked? Anyway the point, especially after reading the comments on slashdot – is that this idea would only disadvantage Microsoft who might not realise just how many people are using illegal versions of their operating system. Not only that, people were going as far as saying that people would, logically, switch to open source alternatives (LINUX). Well, even though Microsoft have ‘dropped its pirate checks‘ I still hope that there is an awakening towards open source alternatives which I am certainly making a move towards.

Yahoo! announced :

Group hug! Friends on Yahoo! and MSN can soon share instant messages.

For instant messaging fans, this rates right up there with the Berlin Wall.

Working hand-in-hand with our friends at MSN, we’re hammering out a solution to connect our two thriving global IM communities.

Which means soon (we’re thinking the first half of 2006), friends on Yahoo! Messenger with Voice and MSN Messenger can see when friends are online, share IMs and emoticons, easily add new contacts from either service to their Messenger Lists, and more.

Is that good news or what?
As you all know MS and Yahoo! are two leading global consumer IM providers. In some regions everyone uses MSN Messenger, in others Yahoo! Messenger, Which brings a lot of problems to the people that have contacts on both networks.
Now, instead of having both IM apps, and losing a lot of precious memory , you can now use just one (official) app.
Of course you could use Trillian too, but I prefer using the official client for a number of reasons (updates to protocol, Msg Plus!, …).

You can read more on the interoperability agreement on Microsoft Presspass.

Heres the little review I promised.

Installation

I downloaded the installer from the MS Max website at 117kb I knew that it was going to download the installation packages itself as it went on. It took me ages, I said it was installing and i’d write the review after i’d restart. Well it took so long to install (P4 2.4ghz 640MB Ram) that I got boerd and forgot about it. Finally after a restart I had to install it again! This time it worked and I got the program running.

The program

Okay so I got it running and I opened it up with not many expectations. It has a half decent layout which is good if you want to get to know how Longhorn (should I say ‘Vista’) is going to look. To be very honest it is probably better then most Microsoft designs, but its old news and its really no big deal.

Screenshot of the splash screen:

Okay as you can see its quite a basic layout. This is a beta or whatever but its still very basic. As a matter of fact, what you can see there, is all that you can do on the application. I started wondering why I had bothered to download and install it.

The thing about this application is that your supposed to be able to share pictures with people. I remember trying out Google’s Pisca a few years ago that did something very similar. As a matter of fact it was prettey much the same if not better.

I tried out putting my pictures into the ‘lists’ category thing. You can add pictures to an album like thing and then view them as a slideshow. Apparently you can share them with your friends too.

Thats it. Thats a full overview of MS Max. As a matter of fact, it was probably a waste of my time even writing the review in the first place. Highly unrecommended. Maybe I missed some huge feature…I seriously doubt that though. I hate logging in with a .net passport to anywhere – and this is so not worth it. 

Tibault can probably try it out in the future and give a less critical review – till then don’t bother to get this app unless you really want to see the layout which is really nothing amazing.

Microsoft® Codename Max is not like any other product. That’s because it’s not a product—it’s your opportunity to try an exciting new user experience from Microsoft. Today Max lets you make lists of your photos and turn them into beautiful slide shows to share with your family and friends. Tomorrow…who knows?

Pah!! Okay it looks interesting so i’m currently installing it. Tibault you aren’t stealing this one from me, i’ll write a review once my PC has restarted (after installation). I also want to try out the structured blogging plugin.

MS Codename Max

 "Tom’s Hardware has a review of the Bart PE Builder software utility takes Windows XP and shrinks the OS to your USB flash drive. Besides converting your mini-drive into an emergency boot disk, you can use the utility to load a Web browser, media burning software and more – to have handy anywhere you go. And by the way, it doesn’t violate the Windows XP EULA." From the article: "If your PC has a relatively new motherboard, its BIOS will already include the functions necessary to support USB-attached boot media. If so, you need only make the right selections in that BIOS menu to boot from a USB flash drive. Older PCs, on the other hand, won’t accept USB drives as valid boot devices. This means a BIOS update that supports USB boot options is necessary. You can find information about where to obtain such updates from your PC’s (or motherboard’s) user manual, on the driver CD included with the PC (or motherboard) or on the vendor’s Website."

 I might give it a go, it seems like a great way of solving any issues on the pc very quickly!

  BartPE

 Microsoft is preparing to enable computer users to make a normal phone call from their PC.

The computer giant has increased its presence in the fast-growing internet phone sector by purchasing leading player Teleo for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft and rivals AOL, Google and Yahoo all currently allow phone calls between computers, but not yet to a domestic or mobile handset. Yahoo! is also in the process of making such a system.

 :arrow: BBC News

 So it appears that no one wants to miss out on this opportunity. Personally I loved Skype the minute I got my hands on it (quite a while back now!). It was just such a flexible program running on every system I have (Mac, PC and Pocket PC!). I use it quite often and the prices are good. Best of all the application is updated regularly with new features and there are amazing 3rd Party addons too!

Good luck to MS and whoever else, but Skype is gonna be 1 step ahead of you! 

Messenger for Mac 5.0 makes it easy to take advantage of the full power of instant messaging. Messenger for Mac offers two types of communication services- a personal account and a corporate account. A personal account works with the MSN® Messenger service on the Microsoft Passport Network. Contacts that you add to your personal account will include friends and family members. A corporate account uses the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server service and can include contacts who use other instant messaging services, such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo Messenger, and iChat users who are signed in with AOL accounts.

Get it here!

I’m currently testing this on my G4. Its a shame that M$ never cared about Mac users enough to even put any effort into their products for the Mac OS and therefore resorting in MSN Users switching to alternatives such as iChat and other mainstream IM applications.

Update: Okay i’ve tried it out on my G4 (OSX 10.4.2) where i’m writing this from and can officially say that there is NOTHING good about this version. They only difference is the skin and the fact that you can use display pictures. There aren’t even new emoticons, no new features at all. It totally sucks i’m ultimately dissapointed. Apparently this is the last release from Microsoft so someone with great programming skills on the mac should take the initiative to make a decent client for MSN messenger.

 Update 00.07GMT

I was having a look on mess.be:

 First ever Microsoft Messenger for Mac patch

dwergs says:

We’re writing history today with the release of the first patch for Messenger for Mac… EVER! Our own Mac-expert, timothy, has manipulated one of the files in order to remove the personal/cooperate tab bar from the contact list window. Carefully follow the instructions on the download page to successfully apply the visual change. May this be the first of many Messenger for Mac 5.0 tweaks and addons! >> Download the Messenger for Mac 5.0 Patch.

 Screenshot:

See the difference? Google shows the Apple Cupertino HQ – a lovely, shiny building probably full of iPods. MSN on the other hand shows an apparently empty field. Not as much as a black turtle-necked jumper remains of Apple’s headquarters. This could be no more than an old picture taken before Cupertino was built or a glimpse of an imagined future.

Another example is the Twin Towers, yep: they’re still there.

Don’t get me wrong, there are good things about Virtual Earth: eg. the ability to zoom with the scroll wheel (although you can add that function to GMaps with a greasemonkey script) is nice, and the world view (zoom out completely) on msn virtual earth is stunning: it looks ‘cleaner’ than GMaps.

To conclude: MSN launched a new service with old pictures.

Two features in Vista I’ll be glad to see are these:

faster and more secure startup, both during boot-up and when returning to active status from standby mode

improved user-mode (as opposed to kernel mode-based) driver design so that "a printer driver that crashes isn’t going to crash the OS as well"

Which will solve the two things I hate my Windows the most now: waiting ages for it to boot, and than get frustrated when one thing crashes, taking explorer with it, and leaving me no choice but rebooting again.

Oh well, enough with the complaints, go read some of the related aticles, for I’m not a tester, so I can’t tell you a lot about it. You can find articles on Google News.