Disjointed Conversations

heh it appears i missed one of the tasks in week2 tutes.

Well i decided to try MSN as the chat program.

It was a great start...I couldn't even install it...for some reason, the online downloading app just sat idol...no downloading progress. So i did the slightly convoluted way of installing it. I searched for an older, standalone version, and once that was installed, upgraded it with the streaming download.

This gave me the chance to see the two different versions of MSN. Quite frankly, i prefer the older look rather than the jazzy new interface, although the new interface is interesting and offers a little more in the way of customisation.

As with any new chat program, the path of the conversation i had was rather predictable. Starts of with the "hello!" "hi!" and works into the "so where are you from?" to "what do you do for a living" and "i like artichokes too!!!" and before long, they get the general gist of sending messages, and turn to the more annoying past times of emotes, and MSN specific "winks" and "nudges" >.< gah!

I'd like a dollar for every different emote, wink and nudge i received ;) hehe

But in all seriousness, i found MSN to be rather good. Not spectacular nor inadequate, but it seemed it has been created for it's purpose; sending quick messages and the exchange of greetings.

I'm used to Skype which is essentially a VOIP or in other words, online telephone system which happens to have the added advantage of chat, and file transfer.

It's clear to see that MSN is far more suited to messaging than chat. setting up voice was a pain and when it did finally work, not everyone was easy to hear. Skype is far superior in that regard.

Over all, i think MSN is a pretty popular and useful tool. The adverts are annoying but most can be removed and from time to time, the connectivity can drop out for no apparant reason, but as i sooned discovered after mentioning it to my friends, most people seem to use it as a means of staying in touch.