“Microsoft’s instant messaging network is rejecting users who have signed up using a .Mac email address,” Macworld UK reports.
“Existing users of MSN (now Windows Live) have been knocked off the network when they try to sign in if they have originally used a .Mac address to sign up for the service,” Macworld UK reports.
“In a moment’s hubris, Microsoft insists users change their email address before using the service,” Macworld UK reports. “‘Because of a recent system update, you must change the email address that you use to sign in to Windows Live Messenger. Until you change your email address, you won’t be able to use Windows Live Messenger,’ an error message explains.”
Full article here.
[UPDATE: 1:48pm EDT: Microsoft has told MacNN “that it recently became aware of an ‘internal error during routine testing that resulted in customers using .Mac domains being asked to change their e-mail address in order to access to their Windows Live IDs. A Windows Live ID is the sign-in and password that customers use to access Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail and other Microsoft online services,’ the company said in a statement. ‘Access to Live IDs has been restored to our customers who use .Mac domains. We regret any inconvenience this caused for our customers.'”
MacDailyNews Take: So, now – right after you finish screwing those Chevy mud-flaps onto your BMW – you can access Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail and other Microsoft online services on your Mac again! Ain’t life grand?
Hubris?
This would be a sign of insecurity, rather than hubris. However, I’m not sure that there is a “.mac” problem here… I wonder if this is what anyone with a web email experiences. I read the following on the MS support pages:
Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 with public instant messaging (IM) connectivity enables IM capabilities between the Windows Live Messenger Service and corporate instant messaging systems. Messenger users can now IM the Messenger users they IM with today, as well as users of a connected IM system. As part of this service enhancement, you must now change the ID you are using for signing into Messenger in order to continue using this service.
I smell fear.
Oh, I forgot to mention that many corporations have anti-webmail policies.
And why is this bad. MSN blows chunks. The only reason to be on there is if you’ve been on there and don’t want to change emails.
All this really is, is another attempt by MS to try and make Mac users feel like they are some remote part of the computing community.
No one with a Mac should be supporting anything Windoes anyway.
Either dump MSN, or get a Gmail address if you really need to use MSN.
Rejecting someone based on their email address is beyond idiotic.
Its all just a big mistake.
I wonder how this will play in light of their convicted (US and European) monopoly status.
word = values
as in microsofts lack of values
OK, I was wrong.
It was specific to .mac accounts. Microsoft has issued an apology and apparently fixed the problem.
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/09/21/ms.corrects.mac.issue/
Oh no!
If I have a .Mac email address I can’t use a Microsoft product of service?
<strike>Damn you to HELL,</strike> Thank you, Microsoft.
Hopefully this goof will get a lot of airplay so that more people learn how incompetent M$ are.
I was about to post that link too. This affected me for about a day, but thankfully they fixed it, since I use Adium but about 95% of my contacts are MSN-based.
MSN? What’s that??
Actually it has been fixed already (a few days ago).
I had this problem but didn’t change my email address, now I use my dotmac email address on msn again without any problems.
So who in the hell would want to use there serve anyway?
Not me…
No right minded mac user would want or needs to use anything M$$$ any more…
It’s time we all simple be done with and let go of M$$$ once and for all…
The new paast time is watching MSSS’s money slowly dry up
Another Microsoft “accident”.
oops! tee hee
“We accidentally programed in a feature that blocks Mac users. Our bad.”
They can’t make that claim for all of the holes they have “accidentally” programed into their OS.
“Viruses’ Welcome here – Vista”, heck I think they grow there.
I wish I could give a crap: I wouldn’t use MSN with your computer
Kind of like insurance, keeping the fleas out of the .mac camp
As suspicious as this might be, I’d love to know the last time MS delivered a planned feature that actually worked.
Although MS did “fix” the problem way too fast; patches at MS take at least a year.
There’s a stench from Redmond, and it’s not just Ballmer….
right after you finish screwing those Chevy mud-flaps onto your BMW
Since when does BMW build anything big enough to need mud flaps?
Now hey, quit ragging on Hotmail! After all, where else would I send all my crap mail signups to? I surely don’t want to soil my .Mac account!
After all, MS does have its’ uses.
clunker: http://www.bmwusa.com/vehicles/X5/48i/
“where else would I send all my crap mail signups to? “
Yahoo?
Before any indignation creeps in, remember the careless caveat:
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained
by mere incompetence!
8^)
It is just another evident that Microsoft is EVIL company.
Hm . . .
Usually, but MS has an uncanny talent of being evil and stupid. Their CEO is the perfect, living example.
Why is it evil? I can’t believe they actually intended to accomplish something with a “stunt” like this. More likely they were trying to implemented a more subtle plan and they messed up. Maybe they were implementing some tracking software to spy on dotmac users, and their bug bluescreened.
Hate to be the MS appologist here, but they corrected this yesterday and appologized for it.
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/09/21/ms.corrects.mac.issue/
Unfortunately, if you changed your address, you can’t change it back. Here is the text of the response from Microsoft help:
“I gather that you would like to change back the e-mail address that you use to sign in to MSN Messenger for Mac. I understand that you already tried to change yyy@hotmail.com back to xxx@mac.com but you saw no available option to do it on the Window Live ID page. You further added that you are not able to create a new account with your old e-mail address. I certainly understand your sentiment about this. Unfortunately, there is no option that would allow you to change an MSN Hotmail e-mail address to a non-Hotmail account. Or to put it straight, there is no option to change your yyy@hotmail.com back to xxx@mac.com.
If you would like to create a new account with your old e-mail address, then you have to wait another 90 days before you can register it again.”
This is the second horrible experience I’ve had with Microsoft services in the past two weeks.
I don’t care just want 10.5, Dosn’t MS just make that Zune thing????
“Unfortunately, there is no option that would allow you to change an MSN Hotmail e-mail address to a non-Hotmail account.”
Oh please. Kinda convenient that the king of features & bloat would miss much an obvious feature, no?
Also seems just a bit suspect that they can fix the .mac issue in a day, yet they can’t put in a link to change your address. A little thought and some coding would’ve saved a fortune in customer support time.
Gotta love the MS Way.
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Where’s the DOJ?
MW: Bill. Heh…
It was a planned mistake that back fired on them badly. Not a good way to keep people using your product. Maybe they thought there were only a couple hundred .mac customers out there.
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Huh, so much for that theory.
using MSN = lick gates roids
This makes me laugh – the only way Microsoft can compete with Apple is by delibrately trying to lock mac systems out of corporate networks.
The only reason they do this is because they cant innovate or compete with Apple in any other area.
Lets face it, Microsoft Office suite is dead in a few years with all the web based office software soon to be out there.
Microsofts golden goose is ready for plucking.
Apple should create a web-based version of iWork which you can use in mac and windows browsers (except Internet Explorerer ofc as no one uses that pile of shit these days).
re: Oh, I forgot to mention that many corporations have anti-webmail policies.
—-
ONLY the largest corporation do.
What makes me laugh is they bliock webmail and yet they give everyone interest access so you can still access your webmail through a browser.
LOL – there is always a way to get around locking people out 😀
re: I don’t care just want 10.5, Dosn’t MS just make that Zune thing????
—
Whats a Zune?
Infact, who are Microsoft? – Ive never heard of them.
Our passion. Your potential.
It happened to me. Ended up switching to my gmail address to fix it. Needless waste of time, but my workplace (100% Windows) has not been able to implement the IM feature in Lotus Notes, so Windows Live Messenger is pretty well embedded.
Yes, I like iChat and Skype better, but Windows Live Messenger is not so bad (that is to say, when it works!)
Hubris: according to its modern usage, is exaggerated self pride or self-confidence (overbearing pride), often resulting in fatal retribution. In Ancient Greece, “hubris” referred to actions taken in order to shame the victim, thereby making oneself seem superior.
Go then, Larry lead foot, Tell us all about your massive planet buster, and how it busts the balls of a Beemer.
OMG, could it possibly a Yank Tank.
In-regards to the story – if not a mistake, then a typical Microsoft tactic.
you guys go on about microsoft… its a FREE service.. not like your dumb ass .mac account.
re: you guys go on about microsoft… its a FREE service.. not like your dumb ass .mac account.
—
At least .mac works and is worth every penny!
I run my design consultancy using .mac with a turrnover of £1million a year.
So up yours loser.
IF its worth every cent as you say why would anyone bother with hotmail? anyway petey have a nice day… Oh who cares what you make like l give a dam…. Yes apple have great software and hardware but its W***kers like you that give apple fans a bad name…
re:IF its worth every cent as you say why would anyone bother with hotmail? anyway petey have a nice day… Oh who cares what you make like l give a dam…. Yes apple have great software and hardware but its W***kers like you that give apple fans a bad name.
—
You OBVIOSULY DO GIVE A DAMN as you are trolling on a mac news site.
I had a hotmail account, but I got so much spam and jink emails on it because Microsoft sells all teh email addresses to mailing and spam companies.
I ditched it in the end, it wasnt worth loggin into just to read 300 spam emailed a day.
One thing I have leanr in my 40 years on this planet is that you get what you pay for.
Everyone who uses hotmail only use it as a junk email account which they can signup on porn sites with.
I give Apple fans a bad name??
LOL.
ITS WANKERS LIKE YOU THAT GIVE THE HUMAN RACE A BAD NAME.
WITH PEOPLE LIKE YOU AROUND NO WONDER THIS PLANET IS SO FUCKED UP AND ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL TO OBLIVION.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU PROBABLY DONT EVEN BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING OR THAT FACT THAT THE WAY WE ARE GOING THE HUMAN RACE IS GONNA BE EXTINCT IN 300 YEARS.
GET a life and make a difference you sad excuse of a living organism.
@ Petey
I run my design consultancy using .mac with a turrnover of £1million a year.
.
LOL, Sure you do little boy. Another message board Bigshot. Run along now, your mommy is calling. She wants you to eat some dinner before you have to go to McDonald’s and cook french fries on the night shift…
Hey Petey, I bet you also own about 15,000 shares of AAPL that you bought for $15 (Like all the other BIG Time Investors here)… HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
You’re the loser kid..
ROFL.
How little you know my friend…
Go then, Larry lead foot, Tell us all about your massive planet buster, and how it busts the balls of a Beemer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_797B
Eat your heart out.
Oh my… darn.
Uhmmm so. Burp!
Petey
ROFL.
How little you know my friend…
Oh Yes yes yes, Petey, I’m sure….. I’m talking to Petey the BIG Time millionaire consultant… You are, like everyone else here, a very important person…
I know so little… Tell ya what little boy, I am 50 years old and been on the net since 1994 and on online systems since 1983.
I can tell a “teenager” when I spot one. Either that or you’ re just a very ignorant loser trying to act important….
Can I get a Diet Coke with my Happy Meal “Boy”…
Hey MDN,
You’re posting this story an hour after TUAW reported the problem fixed.
You are also an elite prick. The stereotype “typical Mac user”, who helps keep Apple at the fringe.
Greetings like yours makes the Microsoft universe much more appealing.
You are also an elite prick. The stereotype “typical Mac user”, who helps keep Apple at the fringe.
Greetings like yours makes the Microsoft universe much more appealing.
Actually, I am far from a “typical Mac user”… I have several Macs. They are my home machines. I also have a PC. But I am realistic enough to know that I (and most people who actually use their computers in the technical field) can not do their day to day jobs without living at least part of the time in the “Microsoft Universe”…
When I see morons on here post “Why would anyone every want Microcrap stuff on their computer”, I know that I am dealing with either a (1) non employed person or (2) a little kid who only uses a computer for iTunes, iMovies, and home stuff..
Dissing Windows and Windows software has always been a mainstay of Mac Fanboys. It’s also a pretty good indication that (unless they are a designer) they have never used a computer to earn a living..
Little Petey fits the mold of a totally mindless fanboy repeating over and over all the Fanboy talking points….
Now I can’t talk to all my friends on MSN???
Oh wait. MSN. Nevermind.
Bud l couldnt have said it any better… there are decent people like you and then there are mac fanboys… Yes the same with microsoft fanboys too.. but to come to a site where we were supose to grab mac news has turned into a bullshit attact on all things that is not apple… People really need to get a life.. to come to a web site to bag other companys… well what can l say. With a name like petey you can see he must be 12 years of age. Oh petey IF you claim you have that much WHY would you come to this web site? if l have your money l would be on a cruise. Yes there is problems around being microsoft or apple there are problems.. Whist steve jobs and bill gates wine together they are both laughing at all this fighting.. Just be happy with what you use. Yes l use a pc, but l would love to have your money to grab a nice mac but bottom line l couldn`t afford it..
you guys are all idiots
Now now, only a few people here are idiots.
Shoeman is obviously an idiot, for he spews his corrosive sarcasm on here just to make himself feel bigger than other internet screen names. Yes, he has an inferiority complex in spades.
The person who’s bragging about making a millions pounds a year and yet lashes out at someone else for not “believing in global warming” is an idiot. You do realize that you’ve just stated why people don’t fall for the global warming line, right? Here’s a clue — because it requires belief. I.e. it’s faith, not science. And it’s faith in what, exactly? That a few uber-wise poo-peddlers will run everything and the rest of us will have to live like African villagers? Hmm. No thanks.
lol. Petey didn’t come back. I guess you called him out on his dubious claim. well done.