Confoodled :-/ Whats the Dif?

[Jabaroo]

OK I know this is going to sound dumb and I should probably seek before I post, but a froum is a place to help :-D

I'm wondering what the difference is between Win messnger and MSN Messenger? Aren't they the same thing?

And how do they differ, if different (Which I'm assuming they are)

[Saiyaz]

In a nutshell, Windows Messenger is a basic messenger that is included with Windows XP systems (and is only XP compatible). While MSN is available for anyone. XP users also now can download MSN Messenger as well and simultaneously run the two programs.

If you go back a few months, Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger were somewhat equivilant in terms of "features" (Windows Messenger actually had a few more hidden gadgets), but since the release of MSN Messenger v6, Windows Messenger seems to be failing to keep up.

(posted by Anna on another topic)

[quietbritishjim]

Windows Messenger was originally going to be the replacement for MSN Messenger that came with Windows XP, the idea being MSN Messenger would become redundant and that only XP users would get updates for the chat program. If you search google you can find statements saying "no version of MSN Messenger will ever install on a Windows XP computer" [:P] I think MS changed its mind after some legal problems from AOL about tieing the product too closly into the OS which broke competition laws.

Now Windows Messenger is mainly still supported for corporate clients who adopted it at the time because it has plugin support, so it could be customised for individual businesses. Most users are encouraged to use MSN Messenger (which has come a long way since the last Windows Messenger release) and you can't even get a Windows Messenger update from http://messenger.msn.com/ any more.