I know alot of you use MSN messenger so I thought this
would explain the problems you have been having this
week
roger
Microsoft Struggles to Fix Instant Message Glitch
By Scott Hillis
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) on Friday
struggled to fix a three-day outage of its instant messaging
service that has affected up to 10 million users of the
product, a key component of the software giant's strategy to
offer new Web-based services.
Up to a third of Microsoft's 30 million worldwide MSN
Messenger users were unable to access the service or their
``buddy lists,'' a register of friends who also use the
system, Microsoft said.
Users first reported problems with the service, which
allows users to send short text messages to each other over
the Internet in real time, on Wednesday.
In what MSN Vice President Richard Bray described as an
''extremely rare set of circumstances,'' the outage was caused
by the failure of a disk controller in one of the database
computers the service is based on.
A glitch also struck a backup for the controller, and
Microsoft was forced to restart all of the MSN Messenger
server computers on Thursday, Bray said in a statement.
``We expect to fully restore service sometime later today.
Until then, some customers may continue to experience an
inability to log into MSN Messenger,'' Bray said.
The ``buddy lists'' were not lost but only unavailable and
would reappear when service is restored, Bray said.
The outage was the most severe of its kind since January,
when a technician's error cut off access to parts of
Microsoft's Internet offerings like its Hotmail free e-mail
service and Web sites like MSN.com.
Microsoft shares fell $2.45 Friday to close at $66.06 in
Nasdaq trading amid a broad sell-off in technology stocks on
Friday.
A HOLE IN .NET?
The problem is an embarrassment for the world's biggest
software company as it pushes its .NET strategy to develop a
new breed of fee-based services, some of which will rely on
instant messaging.
``The issue here, of course, is that it's a communication
product, and there is a very low tolerance of communication
products breaking. It destroys the trust in the product,''
said Rob Enderle, an analyst with technology consultancy Giga
Information Group.
``Of all the things that could happen to the offering, this
is the worst. Not only is it down, but they can't seem to
explain why,'' Enderle said.
The first .NET project, called HailStorm, aims to build
notification and e-commerce services around instant messaging
and a sort of virtual wallet product called Passport.
For instance, online auction house eBay Inc. (NasdaqNM:EBAY - news) plans to
use instant messages to tell customers when they have been
outbid. Financial services giant American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP - news) wants to
use instant messaging to deliver alerts about possible credit
card fraud.
``Communications is a key part of .NET and, if
communications fails, then .NET has difficulties,'' Enderle
said.
SHOOTING THE MESSENGER
Microsoft is also making instant messaging a major part of
Windows XP (news
- web
sites), the upcoming version of its personal computer
operating system.
Windows XP will contain a new message product called
Windows Messenger that will include the ability to start a
video chat and collaborate on documents.
It ups the ante in Microsoft's battle against Internet and
media giant AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news), which
dominates instant messaging, one of the fastest-growing
applications on the Web.
AOL claims 100 million registered users of its instant
messaging software.
Because instant messaging software is relatively easy to
download and install, continued problems with Microsoft's
product could drive users to rival systems from AOL and Yahoo!
Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news), Enderle
said.
``If it goes on much longer, they could very well kill the
instant messaging initiative because people will remember
this. It's relatively easy to switch, to move to Yahoo, AOL or
ICQ,'' Enderle said.
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