The Windows Live client for S60, which includes the Windows Live / MSN Messenger (IM) and is available via Nokia's Download! client, will shortly become a paid for service in select markets. Up until this point in time no charges have been levied, but starting immediately consumers will be offered a 30 day trial after which time they we be asked to pay a monthly fee to continue too use the service.
Read on in the full article.
And when 30 days are up I'll stop using it. S60 already has too many great IM clients that I would sooner pay for than this
Highlight Windows live, hold down 'c', do you wish to delete? Oh yes please
and im back to using fring again 😉
RIP OFF UK Strikes again . Back to FRING .
TTFE Messenger
Heheh.. who on earth would pay for it???? I guess MS wants to preserve it as a freebie only for Windows Mobile?
Highlight Windows live, hold down 'c', do you wish to delete? Oh yes please
exactly!
This is crazy. If the messenger is free on the pc, why should it be charged on mobiles? Oops! Did I just give an idea to MS?
Just did an update to FW15.x for the N95 8GB so now i dont even need to remove Windows Live. Are they serious? Pay for dta and then pay for this...
Funny story is they *do* believe it'll work... With �1/MB for data here in Bulgaria, the IM client is the least I'll pay for. And taking the *large* total share of the Windows Live client, which is not even offered here 😉 Bless us - the developing counties 😉
I assume Rafe means the network 3 will not be levying any additional charges. If they do it will be in breach of their contract and many people will be able to leave their contract for free.
The Windows Live client for S60, which includes the Windows Live / MSN Messenger (IM) and is available via Nokia's Download! client, will shortly become a paid for service in select markets. Up until this point in time no charges have been levied, but starting immediately consumers will be offered a 30 day trial after which time they we be asked to pay a monthly fee to continue too use the service.
When using Windows Live Messenger you will see a splash screen inviting you to use a 30 day trial. At the end of that period you will see another splash screen inviting you to pay to continue using the service.
The first markets this applies to are Sweden and the UK, but other countries will be included in due course. Some operators include Windows Live as part of their contract offerings (e.g. 3 in the UK). In these cases the charges are included in your contract and you should not be directly billed.
Charging only applies to the Messenger service. Use of Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Live Spaces will remain free. Charges will likely be made via premium SMS with a likely cost of around £2.
Charging for such a service may not be popular, but it is typical what happens for mobile messaging solutions. There are a number of free options which you can use as an alternative such as Fring, Palringo and Eq
malerocks wrote:This is crazy. If the messenger is free on the pc, why should it be charged on mobiles? Oops! Did I just give an idea to MS?
The old MSN Messenger and built-in Windows Messenger are still technically free, though MSN is supposedly funded via MSN and Windows Messenger is part of the OS.
If you want the new "Windows Live" it appears you pay for it one way or another.
I wouldn't mind Windows Live Messenger on mobiles having a little ad banner at the bottom though, but frankly if it's a monthly fee then I stop using it.
P.S. It said you accept the 30-day trial by hitting OK. I hit the exit key instead and when I next went in it didn't ask again. Does that mean I'm not on the trial and yet it's still free, forever perhaps? (yeah I know, unlikely 😉). Maybe if it asks for money in 30 days I can demand I get another 30 days as I haven't accepted the trial yet 😃
Oh, and I bet Microsoft have been under pressure from operators to start charging to ensure they'll bundle it, probably with a share of profits going to them to cover losses in SMS revenue.
What we really need is Pidgin ported to S60.
Slick is certainly a worthy replacement, even if its still alpha. Grab it now before they finish it and start charging.
http://slick.en.softonic.com/symbian
I'll be very interested to see what the final release is like.