I have IM accounts on all of the major IM platforms (ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, AIM), and use Trillian so as to be able to access them all. I have long wondered why the likes of AOL and Microsoft allow Trillian to be used as an MSN front-end, or rather, why they have not prevented the use of 3rd party front ends (like Trillian). Well, it seems as though this is happening. CNET is reporting (http://rss.com.com/2100-1032_3-5066412.html) that Microsoft is forcing users to upgrade to a new version of the MSN client, and that after October 15th only that client will be able to access the MSN network. Of course, there is little way Microsoft could technically preclude anyone from creating their own client, but that is neither here nor there. I do have an MSN client installed, and I suppose that I will upgrade, but I don’t think I’ll launch it unless it is actually needed. Good thing I have ICQ, Yahoo, and AIM (for now, I suspect that AOL will be the next to pull something like this, after all, they objected vehemently when MSN used to allow communication with AIM users).
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