Microsoft Threatens Startups Over Account Info

HangingChad writes "According to Fortune, there are reports that Microsoft is trying to strong arm startups to give preferential treatment to MSN Messenger and are using account information as leverage. 'If the company wants to offer other IM services (from Yahoo, Google or AOL, say), Messenger must get top billing. And if the startup wants to offer any other IM service, it must pay Microsoft 25 cents a user per year for a site license.' Of course, if the company is willing to use Messenger exclusively 'fee will be discounted 100 percent.' Getting detailed information is difficult as many of the companies being approached are afraid of reprisals."

Re:Why isn't IM distributed?

[s4m7]

In fact, google's IM protocol is based on Jabber. [jabber.org]

from their about page:

Decentralized -- the architecture of the Jabber network is similar to email; as a result, anyone can run their own Jabber server, enabling individuals and organizations to take control of their IM experience.

Mess them up!

[baadger]

Now seems like a good time to put in a plug for the Mess.be [www.mess.be] Mess Patch [patch.mess.be], which can strip out all the bloat, all the ads and all the 'extra services and features' that come with Windows Live Messenger and leave you with a relatively clean and usable client.

On a somewhat related note, have Vista users noticed the new 'Live' programs available optionally through Windows Update?

Re:Why isn't IM distributed?

[imbaczek]

that idea is so good that it's been implemented quite some time ago [wikipedia.org].

Monetize yes, Service not so much

[Mateo_LeFou]

Your hotmail contacts are a data set. Reading them, even automagically using technology that was boring in 1975, is not a service but a natural human faculty.

"And besides, 25 cents per user per year?"

Not a huge number, but "25 cents per user per year per relevant dataset" would be a dealbreaker for every startup I know.

Not really...

[Per Abrahamsen]

It wasn't "social networking sites", but "webmail sites". And of the three big ones (Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google), only Microsoft try to use control of the mail contacts as a "leverage" for their other products.

When it comes to anti-competitive behavior, Microsoft really is worse than other companies. If nothing else, the number of times Microsoft has been convicted of illegal business practices (especially tying) should witness of this.

Re:Mess them up!

[Anonymous Coward]

Like this one:
http://www.pidgin.im/ [pidgin.im]

Re:Evil is Microsoft's most important product?

[gmack]

Actually the quote from Ecclesiastes is "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." The missing word is quite significant. For some reason it's one of the most often misquoted scriptures.

Uh-huh...

[IonOtter]

I used Messenger a few times? Then I found out that my user/pass was the same for my Hotmail account, AND my Passport. I remember I was using my Passport account to purchase something, when I suddenly realized, "Hey...my credit card info is tied to my Hotmail and MSN Messenger password..."

I promptly deleted the credit card info, changed the user info, scrambled the password by mashing the keyboard with a copy&paste and changed the email to a free Hushmail account that would go away in 30 days.

They've since changed that practice, but MS hasn't offered me anything worthwhile to bring me back.