# Microsoft and Yahoo Merge messengers to create a community of 275 million.
OceanDrive2
26-10-2005, 12:42
Wednesday 12 October 2005 17:10 GMT
Microsoft and Yahoo have said they are to link up their free instant messaging services to create a combined community of 275 million users.
The deal comes as they take on entrenched messaging leader AOL and market newcomer Google.
The agreement, the first major alliance between two of the Web's main providers of instant messaging, will allow users of Microsoft's MSN Messenger service and Yahoo Messenger to swap instantaneous text messages with each other.
Up to now, such interoperability has been restricted to users within each service.
"This is truly a turning point for the IM [instant messaging] industry, and we believe our agreement with Microsoft will help usher in a new era of IP [Internet Protocol] communications," Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel said in a statement on Wednesday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F41D55B8-443F-4D21-B128-1FF98245C146.htm
Pure Metal
26-10-2005, 13:02
interesting... odd thing is i don't know anybody not on msn. actually, i have a friend who uses trillian and 3 different IM accounts, but thats it. and i certainly don't know anybody on AOL messenger (or with an AOL email account for that matter)... odd, that. so where are all these users? :confused:
Monkeypimp
26-10-2005, 13:08
My friends used to almost exclusively use yahoo until about 4 years ago when suddenly everyone moved to msn. I don't use another msging programme anymore.
Boonytopia
26-10-2005, 13:09
I was listening to something about that on the radio, about 2 hours ago. Perhaps it's designed to squeeze Google out.
interesting... odd thing is i don't know anybody not on msn. actually, i have a friend who uses trillian and 3 different IM accounts, but thats it. and i certainly don't know anybody on AOL messenger (or with an AOL email account for that matter)... odd, that. so where are all these users? :confused:
In the US. AOL is only big there, I gather. I don't know anyone who isn't from the US on AOL, either.
Different messengers are popular with different groups. From my experience, MSN is used by most people in the UK, AIM is the main messenger for American teens and Yahoo seems to be the one used most by American adults, but i'm not certain about Yahoo.
OceanDrive2
26-10-2005, 13:26
Different messengers are popular with different groups. From my experience, MSN is used by most people in the UK, AIM is the main messenger for American teens and Yahoo seems to be the one used most by American adults, but i'm not certain about Yahoo.I use Yahoo because I get a free online-Calendar (Personal Time manager) also can sink it with my Palm device.
Jeruselem
26-10-2005, 13:54
MSN user I am. I do have a Yahoo account for Groups though.
Is that why my msn has been crapping out more than usual lately?
Also, yeah, most people I actually know have msn, a couple used to use ICQ, but they've since been converted. I only know people who use aim from another message board I go to, I don't like it very much, it's quite irritating. I hate how I need to keep an away message in a separate window and if I close it then I end up as online and then people harass me when I don't feel like being bothered. The whole window is pretty ugly too. I don't know how people can use it as their primary instant messenger.
Different messengers are popular with different groups. From my experience, MSN is used by most people in the UK, AIM is the main messenger for American teens and Yahoo seems to be the one used most by American adults, but i'm not certain about Yahoo.
MSN is popular in Canada too, well Ontario at least. Even my mom uses msn.
Although apparantly cities and towns in northern ontario use ICQ a lot.